General information on the Ceremony

The 16th ceremony of the United Nations Sasakawa Award for Disaster Reduction took place on 16 October 2003 at the Museum of Arts of Bonn, Germany, in the context of the Second International Conference on early Warning (EWC-2).

The Ceremony was chaired by the United Nations Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs, Mr. Jan Egeland, and hosted by the Deputy Mayor of Bonn, Mr. Ulrich Hauschild, who expressed satisfaction, on behalf of the City of Bonn, to welcome this international event.

The crystal trophy and a cheque of 40,000 USD were delivered on that occasion to the Laureate 2003, Mrs. TADZONG, née Esther Anwi Mofor, Provincial Chief of Service for Planning and Guidance in the Ministry of National Education and Project Manager / Treasurer at the Global Centre for Compliance, Hazards and Disaster Management (GLOCECOHADIM), Republic of Cameroon, in order to reward her for her personal long-term commitment and dedication to the issue of disaster risk reduction, and for preparing the local community for disasters, in particular by strengthening public awareness on environmentally-friendly practices and their importance in mitigating disaster risk and engaging in advocacy activities on the subject.

Three Certificates of Distinction were also presented to the representative of the Fundación para la Prevención del Riesgo Sísmico (FUNDAPRIS), Mérida, Venezuela, Mr. Joaquín Linayo, as well as to Mr. Meda Gurudutt Prasad, from the Coastal Area Disaster Mitigation Efforts (CADME), Andhra Pradesh, India and Mr. Rafi Ahmad, University of the West Indies, Kingston, Jamaica, in recognition and appreciation of their respective outstanding contributions to disaster reduction, thereby furthering the goals of the ISDR.

Given the high-quality of the candidatures received this year, three Certificates of Merit were also presented to the Association Prévention 2000, Paris, France, represented by its Director, Mr. Olivier Schick, the Gujarat State Disaster Management Authority, Gujarat, India, represented on the occasion by Mr. Thiruppugaszh and Dr. P.K.Mishra, and Dr. Jean Pierre Massué, Council of Europe, Strasbourg, France, in appreciation of their valuable efforts to promote disaster reduction worldwide.