At its 58th session, the United Nations General Assembly decided to convene the World Conference on Disaster Reduction (Kobe, Hyogo, Japan, 18-22 January 2005). Based on resolution A/RES/58/214 of the International Strategy for Disaster Reduction and resolution A/RES/58/215 on Natural Disasters and Vulnerabilities, the involvement of national authorities was highlighted as crucial for making the Conference relevant for future disaster risk reduction policies.

National authorities and platforms on disaster reduction were therefore invited to provide information to identify needs and develop future policy recommendations for consideration at the Conference.

The preparation of the national information provided an opportunity to bring together stakeholders from governments, academic and other sectors dealing with disaster risk reduction. In many cases consultations were held with institutions specializing in disaster management including environmental planning and education departments, meteorological services, NGOs and other key domains.

To facilitate the preparation of the national information, guidelines were provided by the secretariat of the International Strategy for Disaster Reduction (ISDR) through various channels: permanent missions, United Nations resident coordinators’ network, national platforms, regional offices, and official focal points. The guidelines were also posted on the ISDR website in three languages (English, Spanish and French) and later translated into Russian.

The guidelines provided a reporting structure based on the components and priority areas specified in the ISDR/UNDP “Framework for disaster risk reduction for guidance and monitoring” . The following themes serve as a core set of principles to understand, guide and monitor current status of disaster risk reduction and therefore provide a common basis for consolidated observations: