News and announcements

A large-scale drill was held in nine hospitals of NW Arkansas last Wednesday to test employees' responses to a large-scale disaster....

Better informing the public is critical to implementation of building improvements, stressed a home safety group yesterday to a Congressional panel, in support of federal efforts to boost building safety....

Careful preparations together with lessons learned from previous earthquakes limited the damage caused by the latest major tremor to hit northern Japan yesterday....

"It is very necessary for China and Japan, two seismically active countries, to strengthen exchanges and cooperation in this aspect," said the ministry's spokesman Liu Jianchao....

'Effective disaster management through timely hazard identification and risk reduction is a necessity to protect human, economic and environmental resources' said K. T. Hammond, Dep Minister for the Interior....

'When the question is not, 'if disaster will strike; but where, how long and how often?', there is little time to help communities back on their feet', Christophe Legrand, UN Development programme, Madagascar....

A disaster risk reduction project is now underway in the provinces of Catanduanes and Camarines Sur. The project, run by a Spanish development financing institution is a school based education and awareness programme on disaster preparedness.

The Commission has extended the scope of its disaster risk reduction programme (DIPECHO) to Mozambique, Madagascar, Malawi and the Comoros, with a new decision for €5 million....