Towards a new approach to disasters from consequences to causes: Covering disasters from a disaster risk reduction perspective

National media organizations play an important role in promoting national disaster risk reduction (DRR) policies and programmes. To do so, however, they need to know what disaster risk reduction is about and to have established contacts with key DRR professionals who can provide them with accurate and timely information. At the same time, National Platform representatives need to be trained on how to better promote disaster risk reduction issues through the media at the national level.

In response to these needs, the United Nations International Strategy for Disaster Reduction (UNISDR), together with the support of the Thomson Reuters Foundation and the European Commission’s Directorate General Humanitarian Aid and Civil Protection, is organizing a two-day media training from 8 to 9 May 2011 in Geneva, Switzerland during the Global Platform on Disaster Risk Reduction (9 to 13 May 2011) to train 20 media representatives and 20 national platform representatives from Africa and Middle East Countries.