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News Archive
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131 Items
| Title | Date | Type |
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To build the resilience of nations and communities to disasters, we need equal and active participation of men and women in disaster risk reduction.Disasters affect men and women differently, and so we will continue to lobby for gender-sensitive vulnerability, risk and capacity assessments. Studies show that women’s vulnerabilities during and after disasters is linked to their role and status in society, making women and children 14 times more likely to die than men during a disaster. |
8 Mar 2011 | News briefs |
Reducing vulnerability to natural hazards must become top international priority says General Assembly PresidentAddressing journalists at the Palais des Nations on 28 February, General Assembly President Joseph Deiss said that reducing vulnerability to natural hazards must be a top priority of the international community. “Reducing disaster risks is essential if we are to consolidate progress made in development and poverty reduction,” he said, briefing correspondents on the outcome of the General Assembly Thematic Debate on disaster risk reduction, held on 9 February at the United Nations Headquarters in New York. |
28 Feb 2011 | News briefs |
Killer year caps deadly decade - reducing disaster impact is "critical" says top UN disaster officialGeneva – Some 373 natural disasters killed over 296,800 people in 2010, affecting nearly 208 million others and costing nearly US$110 billion, according to the Centre for Research on the Epidemiology of Disasters (CRED). The top two most lethal disasters -- the 12 January earthquake in Haiti, which killed over 222,500 people, as well as the Russian heat wave in summer, which caused about 56,000 fatalities made 2010 the deadliest years in at least two decades. |
24 Jan 2011 | Press release |
Killer year caps deadly decade - reducing disaster impact is "critical" says top UN disaster official |
24 Jan 2011 | Press release |
Covering disasters from a DRR perspectiveNational media organizations play an important role in promoting national disaster risk reduction policies and programmes. They need to know about disaster risk reduction and to establish contact with their national disaster risk reduction representatives who can provide them with accurate and timely information. To support this, UNISDR, Thomson Reuters Foundation, UNRIC and ECHO, are organizing a two-day media training in Brussels from 15 to 16 November 2010 with ten media organizations and national platform representatives from European countries. |
15 Nov 2010 | News briefs |
World Bank-UN Report Charts Path to Prevent Death and Destruction from Natural HazardsA new joint report from the World Bank and the United Nations says that annual global losses from natural disasters could triple to $185 billion by the end of this century, even without calculating the impact of climate change. Climate change could then add $28-$68 billion more in damages each year from tropical cyclones alone. The report also says that the number of people exposed to storms and earthquakes in large cities could double to 1.5 billion by 2050. |
11 Nov 2010 | Press release |
Call for good practices and lessons learned for the “Making Cities Resilient – My City is Getting Ready!” campaignUNISDR is launching a call for "good practices" and lessons learned by cities/local governments in support of the "Making Cities Resilient – My City is Getting Ready!" campaign. Selected examples will be published by the end of 2011, and others will be showcased during the Global Platform for Disaster Risk Reduction on 8-13 May 2011. |
9 Nov 2010 | News briefs |
Five-year roadmap to cope with weather-related hazards in AsiaOfficials meeting at the Fourth Asian Ministerial Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction have approved a five-year regional roadmap to establish climate resilient disaster risk management systems by 2015 that will contribute to sustainable development at the regional, national and community levels. |
28 Oct 2010 | Press release |
First Asia-Pacific Disaster Report launched by ESCAP and UNISDRPeople in the Asia-Pacific region are four times more likely to be affected by natural disasters than those in Africa and 25 times more likely than those in Europe or North America, says a UN report released at the Fourth Asian Ministerial Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction (AMCDRR). The region generated one quarter of the world’s GDP, yet it accounted for 85 per cent of deaths and 38 per cent of global economic losses due to natural disasters over the last three decades. |
26 Oct 2010 | Press release |
Call for nominations for the 2011 Sasakawa Award for Disaster ReductionFrom promoting women’s empowerment in Indonesia, to teaching architects to build structures resilient against hurricanes and earthquakes, the Sasakawa Award for Disaster Reduction has helped fund innovative disaster reduction work by a range of professionals from geologists to engineers for the past 23 years. Nominations are now open for the 2011 Sasakawa Award to be given to an individual or organization for outstanding and internationally recognized action that contributes to building the resilience of nations and communities to disasters. |
25 Oct 2010 | News briefs |
Mentoring programme for young researchers launched in BangkokA mentoring programme created by UNISDR and the Stockholm Environment Institute trained its first batch of young researchers, most in the mid-20s to mid-30s, in response to a request from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) for more peer-reviewed literature by authors from developing countries. > View full story |
21 Oct 2010 | News briefs |
2010 International Day for Disaster ReductionThis year's theme: My City is Getting Ready! To mark the International Day for Disaster Reduction, the UNISDR secretariat is calling on its partners to play a more active role to protect cities against disasters. Many cities have been disrupted this year by disasters: earthquakes in Haiti, Chile and New Zealand; floods and heavy rainfalls in Pakistan, Eastern Europe, Mozambique and other parts of Africa; forest fires in Russia; and volcanic eruptions in Indonesia and Iceland. All have caused huge human suffering and economic damage. Cities have never been so at risk. |
12 Oct 2010 | Press release |
Training toolkit and "factsheet" piloted in Kenya to strengthen disaster managementOn 25 to 26 August, the UNISDR Regional Office for Africa is holding a pilot workshop on “Training of Trainers” in the Rift Valley Province to test a toolkit to “train trainers” in disaster risk reduction. “The outcome of this training will create a super highway for spreading hazard and disaster risk reduction information to local communities, thereby increasing their knowledgebase and consequently their resilience to natural disasters,” said Pedro Basabe, Head of the UNISDR Regional Office for Africa. Expected to attend are 30 Disaster Risk Reduction platform members from the provinces, and five regional participants from Burundi, Cape Verde, Côte d'Ivoire, Senegal and Kenya. > View full story |
25 Aug 2010 | News briefs |
Shanghai Expo 2010 to hold forum on disaster risk reductionA “Forum on Disaster Risk Reduction” will be hosted by DEVNET in collaboration with UNISDR, UN-Habitat and ICLEI in the context of the Shanghai Expo 2010 "Better City, Better Life." The forum will be held at the Everbright Convention & Exhibition Center in Shanghai from 28-30 July 2010. |
9 Jul 2010 | News briefs |
City leaders join UN Making Cities Resilient campaignLocal governments are showing their commitment to protect cities and citizens from natural hazards by signing up to a new global disaster risk reduction campaign. Davos (Switzerland), Port-au-Prince (Haiti), Santa Tecla (El Salvador) and Baofeng (China) are the latest to join the UN International Strategy for Disaster Reduction’s Making Cities Resilient: My City is Getting Ready campaign, which is aimed at guiding to process to put in place much-needed disaster reduction plans. On 30 May, leaders from eight took part in the UNISDR’s official campaign launch at the First World Congress on Cities and Adaptation to Climate Change in Bonn. |
1 Jun 2010 | Press release |
UNISDR at Cities on Volcanoes 6 (COV6)Tenerife, Canary Islands, Spain, May 31 - June 4, 2010 |
29 May 2010 | News briefs |
My City is Getting Ready, Is yours? UNISDR launches 2010-11 World Disaster Reduction CampaignWith more than half the world’s population living in urban areas, cities are particularly vulnerable to the risks of natural hazards, such as earthquakes, drought and floods. To strengthen a city’s readiness to reduce disaster impacts, the UN International Strategy for Disaster Reduction is launching this Sunday, 30 May 2010 in Bonn, Germany, a new campaign to raise awareness and boost commitment for sustainable development practices that will increase a city’s well-being and safety. |
27 May 2010 | Press release |
Publication "Local Governments and Disaster Risk Reduction: Good practices and lessons learned" now availableThese good practices show how building the capacity of local institutions is key to sustaining disaster risk reduction, and demonstrate the immediate impact of local and national political commitments that institutionalise disaster risk reduction. Collaboration between local and national governments, civil society organizations and international agencies is another notable strength of the initiatives showcased in this publication.
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19 Apr 2010 | News briefs |
Rebuilding for resilience: How science and engineering can inform Haiti’s reconstructionInternationally renowned scientists and engineers will converge on the University of Miami campus March 22-23 for a workshop dedicated to rebuilding the city of Port-au-Prince, Haiti, in ways that make it less vulnerable to damage from future earthquakes and other hazards. View full story -> |
22 Mar 2010 | News briefs |
External Evaluation of the UNISDR and Management ResponseUNISDR is pleased to share its Management Response to the second external evaluation of the secretariat. The Management Response sets out the process and main activities to implement recommendations arising from the evaluation carried out by Dalberg Global Development Advisers. Initiated by the Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General for Disaster Risk Reduction and major UNISDR donors, the evaluation’s purpose was to assess the secretariat’s performance over the last four years and to provide guidance for UNISDR's future direction. The independent report presents 42 recommendations based on 25 findings, which are summarized in five key messages included in the executive summary. |
11 Feb 2010 | News briefs |
Earthquakes caused the deadliest disasters in the past decadeIn the past decade, nearly 60 per cent of the people killed by disasters died because of earthquakes, the Centre for Research on Epidemiology of Disasters (CRED) revealed today in a joint press conference with the United Nations International Strategy for Disaster Reduction (UNISDR). |
28 Jan 2010 | Press release |
BBC World News to broadcast ‘Tsunami Revisited’‘Tsunami Revisited’ is a documentary on the EC funded project 'Building Resilience to Tsunamis in the Indian Ocean Region in response to the devastating tsunami in the Indian Ocean on 26 December 2004. UNISDR was appointed to manage the project by coordinating, supervising and monitoring the actions of a number of partner organisations in four target countries: India, Indonesia, the Maldives and Sri Lanka. |
23 Dec 2009 | News briefs |
UNISDR secretariat has launched its new Biennial Work Programme for 2010-2011 "Invest today for a safer tomorrow
The UNISDR secretariat Biennial Work Programme was developed following the second session of the Global Platform for Disaster Risk Reduction in June 2009. It is based on the role and mandate of UNISDR as set by the UN General Assembly. The strategic direction for the 2010-2011 biennium is derived from the outcomes of the Global Platform and from regional consultations. The current programme has been further shaped through broad consultation with the ISDR Support Group in Geneva, donors, the ISDR Inter-Agency Group and other partners.
Related links |
20 Nov 2009 | News briefs |
Adaptation to climate change by reducing disaster risks: country practices and lessons |
19 Nov 2009 | News briefs |
First global scientific effort to examine the linkages between disaster risk reduction and climate change adaptation
More than 90 world experts have assembled today in Panama City to start a new assessment on how climate change will affect disaster risks in future and how countries can better manage the expected increases in damaging weather events due to climate change. The meeting is being convened by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), which decided in April 2009 to prepare a new IPCC Special Report called: “Managing the Risk of Extreme Events and Disasters to Advance Climate Change Adaptation”. The assessment was proposed by the United Nations International Strategy for Disaster Reduction (UNISDR) and the government of Norway in response to the predictions in the IPCC Fourth Assessment Report that more frequent and severe extreme events such as droughts, floods, storms, heat waves were likely in the future warmer world.
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9 Nov 2009 | News briefs |
UNISDR Terminology on Disaster Risk Reduction launched in three East Asian languages |
3 Nov 2009 | News briefs |
International Day for Disaster Reduction: Disaster Risk Reduction initiative for Nepal launched
Katmandu - A new disaster risk reduction initiative for Nepal was launched by a consortium of partners that comprises the UN International Strategy for Disaster Reduction, other United Nations organizations, the International Federation of Red Cross & Red Crescent Societies (IFRC), the Asian Development Bank and the World Bank to mark the 2009 International Day for Disaster Reduction.
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19 Oct 2009 | News briefs |
International Day for Disaster Reduction: new initiatives launched in LondonThe global event of the 2009 International Day for Disaster Reduction was staged at the Royal Marsden Hospital, which was severely damaged by a fire in early 2008. The meeting gathered more than 120 participants from all stakeholder groups and was hosted by the UK Health Protection Agency in collaboration with the World Health Organization (WHO) and the United Nations International Strategy for Disaster Reduction (UNISDR). View full story Related links 2009 International Day for Disaster Reduction Programme of global event in London incl. slides of presentations Video recording of the London event Opening Remarks by Sir John Holmes, United Nations Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator (delivered by Helena Molin Valdés, Deputy Director UNISDR) |
16 Oct 2009 | News briefs |
UNISDR at World Climate Conference 3 (WCC-3)WCC-3 focuses on how humankind can benefit from the advances in climate prediction and information services to manage climate-related risks as a way of developing resilience through adaptation. Disaster Risk Reduction is a key component of the agenda and UNISDR is directly involved in a variety of events, such as the Opening of the Conference and Plenary Session 4 on Climate Extremes, Warning Systems and Disaster Risk Reduction. |
4 Sep 2009 | News briefs |
World Climate Conference - 3 |
28 Aug 2009 | News briefs |
Upcoming Event
The Fourth Session of the Global Platform for Disaster Risk Reduction will take place in Geneva, Switzerland in May 2013.
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Evidence, monthly UNISDR newsletter: issue 16, April 2013
This monthly newsletter highlights UNISDR activities around the world. This issue reports on: (i) the Global Platform 2013 ...
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