News and announcements

In an editorial, UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator John Holmes cites Cyclone Nargis as the latest example of the importance of disaster risk reduction and preparedness measures....

Entrevista a Haris Sanahuja, Asesor Regional de Políticas, ONU/EIRD-Las Américas: La formulación del proyecto de “Estrategia para la reducción del riesgo de desastres, preparación y respuesta ante emergencias para la Región Asia Pacífico 2009-2015” ha motivado comentarios y aportes de expertos de todo el mundo, especialmente de las economías APEC, quienes ven en ella la oportunidad para promover políticas públicas que beneficien a nuestra región.

The Climate Resilient Cities Primer is a tool to conduct assessments of climate change-related disaster risk in order to develop strategies to reduce the urban centres' vulnerability to extreme weather events....

'Although there is no such thing as an earthquake-proof building...proper seismic retrofitting can give buildings a fighting chance against a sizeable earthquake,' said San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom on 7 July, just weeks prior to the 5.4-magnitude Los Angeles area earthquake...

Perspective: Chinese lecturer calls for 'a softer intellectual and systemic approach - such as introducing compulsory flood insurance' in the face of increased risks from modernization and hi-tech...

Pacific island governments initiatives for disaster risk reduction must often compete for resources with other public sectors, such as health and education....

UNDP provided prefabricated offices to local institutions to allow a full recovery of governance functions. BEGIN-ER programme's aims also include developing planning capacities and implementation of disaster risk reduction activities....

'If we can reduce our own fear even a little bit by knowing what to do, we might be able to do better in terms of survival,' said Dr Steven Chow, President of the Federation of Private Medical Practitioners’ Association of Malaysia....