News and announcements

Focus Taiwan reports that due to the high water levels, an additional 100,000 people living in the Three Gorges Dam reservoir area are facing relocation because of mounting geological hazards, according to an official with China's Ministry of Land and Resources in a call to prevent future disasters...

'The 2010 earthquake demonstrated that development will never be successful if we don't build risk reduction at our core. That is why the Martelly administration is committed to making disaster risk reduction and management, a critical priority across the government'...

The UN Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNISDR) today launched a new initiative to support cities around the world to manage risk following the worst year on record for economic losses from disasters. It also announced today that over 1,000 cities have now joined its "Making Cities Resilient" Campaign.

The earthquake and tsunami threat that hit the western coast of Sumatra last week has prompted preparatory authorities to propose building vertical safety shelters in tsunami-prone areas, reports the Jakarta Globe. 'The president said that if there is a need for additional equipment, such as for the early warning system, then if should be ascertained because this [system] is important,' presidential spokesman Julian Aldrin Pasha said...

The K Computer has been used to simulate the effects of earthquakes and floods after Japan's undersea megathrust earthquake and tsunami in March last year. 'As a national project, Japan is utilising the computer for its national strategy -- disaster mitigation,' said Masahiko Yamada, president of Fijitsu...

Participants at the just concluded 4th Lagos Climate Change Summit have called on the the Federal government to take the lead in integrating the states into its efforts at combating the challenges of climate change. They also called for good synergies between policy makers, scientists, the citizens and other stakeholders...

The Assistant Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs, Catherine Bragg, highlighted the need to build national and local capacity, invest in disaster risk reduction, and improve humanitarian coordination and collaboration in order to promote resilience and sustainable livelihoods in the Horn...

'The nuclear industry is responding to the lessons learned from Fukushima with actions that provide the greatest safety benefit in the quickest amount of time,' said Tony Pietrangelo, the Nuclear Energy Institute's senior vice president and chief nuclear officer...