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Business continuity planning vital for disaster-prone Manila

UNISDR joined forces with a leading university yesterday to urge Manila’s business community to reduce its disaster risk and to develop business continuity plans which take account of the capital city’s extreme exposure to earthquakes and typhoons. Disasters cost the country a record $615 million last year. 		4 May 2012 News briefs

UNISDR chief arrives in Philippines for five-day visit

Top UN disaster risk reduction official, Margareta Wahlström arrives in Manila Philippines tomorrow for five-day visit during which she will meet with donors, the private sector, mayors and government officials to further push for more concrete disaster reduction actions to protect more communities and assets from future disasters. 		30 Apr 2012 News briefs

Cambodia learning lessons from floods, says UNISDR Chief

Nineteen year old Ien Sophorn heads a children's council in Cambodia that works with the Srei Nam Provincial Committee of Disaster Management to raise awareness on climate change adaptation. 		26 Apr 2012 News briefs

UNISDR chief visits flood-prone Cambodian province

At the start of a week-long trip to Cambodia, the UN's senior official for disaster risk reduction, Margareta Wahlström, met yesterday with a 64-year-old grandmother who saved the lives of her five grandchildren during last year's heavy monsoon rains. 		23 Apr 2012 News briefs

UNISDR welcomes Viet Nam’s new climate change strategy

As she wrapped up a five-day visit to Viet Nam, Margareta Wahlström, the top UN disaster risk reduction Official, commended the Government on the ambitious Community-based Disaster Risk Management (CBDRM) Programme and the comprehensive new National Climate Change Strategy. 		20 Apr 2012 News briefs

UNISDR Chief surveys risk reduction in Vietnam

UNISDR Chief, Margareta Wahlström, today visited parts of Vietnam's Mekong Delta which were affected by storm surges last October and are most vulnerable to rising sea levels caused by climate change. 		17 Apr 2012 News briefs

Indian Ocean tsunami early warning systems pass test

Following a massive earthquake earlier today in the Indian Ocean and the threat of a tsunami, Indonesian President and UNISDR Global Disaster Risk Reduction Champion, Susilo Bambang Yudhyono, told the press, "Our early warning system is working well". There were no tsunamis in Banda Aceh or other places which were hard hit by the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami. 		11 Apr 2012 News briefs

Twinning for disaster risk reduction

Threatened by increasing and lethal seasonal floods, the 500-year old Malaysian port city of Melaka is making considerable efforts to reduce the disaster risks that it currently faces from such climate related catastrophic events. 		10 Apr 2012 News briefs

UNISDR Chief visits Bangladesh cyclone belt

A visit to a disaster-resilient habitat in Bangladesh has prompted UNISDR Chief Margareta Wahlström to acknowledge the south Asian country as leading developing nations in the global fight against climate change impacts. 		2 Apr 2012 News briefs

Bangladesh highlights shortage of cyclone shelters as UNISDR chief visits

The UN Secretary-General's Special Representative for Disaster Risk Reduction, Margareta Wahlström, today discussed with the Bangladesh Government the country's huge shortfall in cyclone shelters and the protection of the country's coastline from rising sea-levels at the start of a three day mission to Bangladesh where the cyclone season starts on April 1. 		29 Mar 2012 Press release

Private sector's key emergency role in Japan

Kokusai Kogyo is one of several Japanese companies bound to the government by a bond called saigai kyotei, a service agreement activated by the occurrence of an emergency. 		27 Mar 2012 News briefs

Asian mayors meet in Manila to talk resilience

Mayors and other representatives from some of Asia's largest cities are gathering for three days in Manila to focus on urban resilience across the disaster-prone region. 		21 Mar 2012 News briefs

UNISDR champion fights to save ancient rice terraces

The 2,000 year-old Rice Terraces of the Philippine Cordilleras are a UNESCO world heritage site often described as the 8th Wonder of the World. Their preservation is at the heart of an environmental campaign launched last weekend by UNISDR's Regional Disaster Risk Reduction Champion, Senator Loren Legarda. 		19 Mar 2012 News briefs

Migration not a matter of choice but survival, says Kiribati President

Following a recent decision by its Cabinet to buy land in Fiji as 'climate change insurance' for its population, Kiribati President, Anote Tong has called on the international community to address the effects of climate change that could wipe out the entire Pacific archipelago. 		15 Mar 2012 News briefs

Japan quake took toll on women and elderly

One year ago, the Great East Japan Earthquake and Tsunami took 13,007 lives in Iwate, Miyagi, Fukushima -- the country's three most affected prefectures; 54 percent of those fatalities were women and girls. 		12 Mar 2012 News briefs

Japan's success in risk reduction highlighted on March 11 anniversary

The UN Secretary-General's Special Representative for Disaster Risk Reduction, Margareta Wahlström, today paid tribute to the resilience of the Japanese people as they prepare to mark the first anniversary of the Great East Japan Earthquake and Tsunami. 		9 Mar 2012 Press release

Cooperatives take off in Japan's tsunami belt

Almost one year ago Minami Sanriku was one of many coastal towns in the Northern Miyagi Prefecture that was devastated by the Great East Japan Earthquake and Tsunami. 		7 Mar 2012 News briefs

UNISDR welcomes Typhoon Sendong Post-Mortem

The Head of the UN's Disaster Risk Reduction Office, UNISDR, Margareta Wahlström, today congratulated three Philippines Senators for leading an in-depth, two-day post-mortem with local leaders into the devastating losses caused to Mindanao island by Typhoon Sendong in December. 		22 Feb 2012 News briefs

UNISDR welcomes mass earthquake drill in Delhi

More than 40,000 people took part in a mass earthquake drill in Delhi yesterday to check the alertness and preparedness of the 16.7 million people living in the Indian capital in the event of a high intensity earthquake of 7.2 on the Richter scale. 		16 Feb 2012 News briefs

Tsunami alert system tried and tested by Philippines earthquake

The UN Special Representative for Disaster Risk Reduction, Margareta Wahlström, today extended her sympathy to the people of the Philippines on the tragic loss of life in yesterday’s earthquake. Over 50 people are reported to have died in the earthquake which was followed by over 150 aftershocks, and landslides in several places. 		7 Feb 2012 Press release

Mindanao mayors gather after Typhoon Sendong

Mayors from the Mindanao region in the Philippines recently ravaged by Typhoon Sendong have been tasked to invest more in prevention and mitigation measures, by one of last year’s recipients of the prestigious Sasakawa Award. 		31 Jan 2012 News briefs

Resilience crucial to Typhoon Sendong recovery

UNISDR Chief, Margareta Wahlström, was standing at “ground zero” of typhoon-battered northern Mindanao as she surveyed the remains of the once vibrant community of Kala-Kala, Barangay Macasandig, in Cagayan de Oro City. 		30 Jan 2012 News briefs

UNISDR chief compares typhoon damage in Mindanao to Japanese tsunami

The UN Secretary-General's Special Representative for Disaster Risk Reduction, Margareta Wahlström, met today with the Philippines Secretary of Foreign Affairs, Albert F. Del Rosario, following a three-day visit to the typhoon-devastated coastal cities of Iligan and Cayagan de Oro in Mindanao. 		27 Jan 2012 Press release

Disaster risk following economic development pathways in Thailand says UNISDR Chief

The Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General, Margareta Wahlström, met today with Thailand’s Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Finance, Kittiratt Na-Ranong, to discuss new government proposals on risk management and to urge Government support for business continuity plans following the costliest disaster in the country’s history. 		23 Jan 2012 Press release

Asian Institute of Technology Graduation Ceremony - Address by Margareta Wahlström

Thank you for inviting me to this graduation ceremony today. It’s a great pleasure and privilege to speak to future managers, engineers, urban planners; soon you will make the decisions that will have a decisive impact on reducing or increasing the impacts of disasters. 		21 Jan 2012 Statements & speeches

'Chronic amnesia' on lessons learned from Pakistan floods

A major review of the 2010 and 2011 Pakistani floods is calling on donors to be more generous in their support for disaster preparedness and early recovery, and to help Pakistani NGOs to play a bigger role in crisis response. 		16 Jan 2012 News briefs

Bangkok floods, reducing urban risk in a changing climate

As the Thai capital, Bangkok, recovers from the worst flooding in a century, many are concerned that the disaster may be a sign of things to come amid a changing climate. 		3 Jan 2012 News briefs

Funding crucial for national disaster prevention plans

In an era of climate change, countries without national disaster prevention plans will find their cities and municipalities repeatedly engulfed by disasters, warned Philippine Senator Loren Legarda, UNISDR Champion for Disaster Risk Reduction and Climate Change Adaptation in the Asia Pacific, who said governments should not be “content with post-disaster relief and rehabilitation” alone. 		29 Dec 2011 News briefs

DRR gains media attention in India

When a city joins the 'Making Cities Resilient' campaign, the media gets very active, explained Piyush Ranjan Rout, co-founder and Executive Director of the Local Governments Network, a non-government organization in Bhubaneswar, India. 		28 Dec 2011 News briefs

Children’s needs a priority after Philippine floods

A week after Tropical Storm Sendong hit the Philippines, aid agencies are focusing attention on an estimated 14,000 children who make up about a third of displaced persons in evacuation centres, including those separated from their families... 		27 Dec 2011 News briefs
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