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February
2004
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World
Conference on Disaster Reduction – first announcement
The first
announcement for the World Conference on Disaster Reduction is now available
on-line. The Conference will be organized by UN/ISDR and hosted by the Government
of Japan at Kobe, Hyogo from 18 to 22 January 2005.
The two Preparatory Committees for the Conference will take place on 6-7 May
2004 and 11-12 October respectively, immediately following the ninth and tenth
meetings of the Inter-Agency Task Force on Disaster Reduction.
Launch of UNDP Report Reducing Disaster
Risk: A challenge for development
On 2 February UNDP’s Bureau of Crisis Prevention and Recovery launched
the report Reducing Disaster Risk: A challenge for development. The report demonstrates
that development processes intervene in the translation of physical exposure
into natural disaster events, making recommendations for good practices in disaster
risk reduction that can be built into ongoing development planning policy.
In addition, the report introduces the Disaster Risk Index, a tool that analyses
which countries are more vulnerable than others and identifies a number of correlations
between development and the configuration of disaster risk.
To access the report on-line, please refer to http://www.undp.org/bcpr/disred/rdr.htm
To access the DRI analysis tool and country profiles, please refer to http://gridca.grid.unep.ch/undp/
2004
UN Sasakawa Award for Disaster Reduction
Nominations are still being accepted until
18 August 2004 for the 2004 UN Sasakawa Award
for Disaster Reduction. Join us in rewarding individuals and
institutions from around the world who contributed, through
innovative practices
and outstanding initiatives, to reducing the risk and vulnerabilities
of communities to natural hazards!
To download the nomination form available in English/French/Russian/Spanish
For further information on the UN Sasakawa Award for Disaster Reduction, please
refer to http://www.unisdr.org/eng/sasakawa/sk-about-eng.htm
Asian contribution to the WCDR
The Asian
Conference on Disaster Reduction 2004 (4-6 February, Siem Reap, Cambodia)
proved to be a valuable opportunity for international and regional organizations
as well as government representatives, including Cambodian Prime Minister HunSen,
to identify challenges and concrete future action in disaster reduction in
Asia. The conference is part of a series of regional events supporting the
preparatory process for the World Conference on Disaster Reduction (18-22 January
2005, Kobe-Hyogo, Japan).
World Water Day – 22
March 2004
In 2004 World Water Day is focused on the theme of water and disasters. WMO
and UN/ISDR are the two leading agencies for the Day’s celebrations,
with an information kit available on-line (as well as in hard copy).
For more information about World Water Day 2004, please refer to www.waterday2004.org
To receive a copy of the information kit, please contact isdr@un.org
For articles, stories and statistics on water and disasters, please refer to
the ISDR
World Disaster Reduction Campaign
Gender and disasters
On 10-12 August an action-oriented meeting for women and men working toward
gender equality in disaster risk management and response will be held in Honolulu,
Hawaii. Practitioners, policy makers, planners, academics, activists and community
members will focus on practical and feasible strategies for engendering the
risk reduction agenda.
For further information, please contact genderdisaster@yahoo.com or
refer to http://www.ssri.hawaii.edu/research/GDWwebsite/index.html
ITDG South Asia has
just published a book by Madhavi Malalgoda Ariyabandu and Maithree
Wickramasinghe entitled Gender dimensions in disaster management. The
book places the issue of gender in the context of development, and
extends the discussion to show how gender and development concerns
are reflected in the context of disasters.
To order a copy of the publication (US$ 12 – proceedings of the book
to be-reinvested in ITDG community disaster risk reduction projects), please
contact ITDG South Asia at general@itdg.slt.lk
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ISDR
Highlights is a monthly email update on current news in disaster
reduction published by the Inter-Agency Secretariat of the International
Strategy for Disaster Reduction (UN/ISDR).
Please direct all enquiries (including subscription requests) to: isdr@un.org
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