Media

This year, for the first time in human history, more people will be living in cities than in rural areas. Growing urbanization combined with climate change exposes hundreds of millions of people, in particular those living below the poverty line, to more disasters. Eight out of the ten most populated cities in the world are already prone to earthquakes and six of these cities are vulnerable to storm surges and tsunamis.

In order to better address those new challenges, over 600 representatives of governments, UN organizations, international financial institutions, academic organizations, media, NGOs and the civil society gathered in Geneva, Switzerland on 5-7 June 2007, to participate in the first session of the new Global Platform on Disaster Risk Reduction. The Global Platform is expected to become the main international forum on disaster risk reduction.

The meeting assessed the progress made in disaster risk reduction policies since the World Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction that took place in Kobe, Japan in January 2005 and will urge governments to implement the Hyogo Framework for Action, the ten year plan to increase the resilience of nations and communities to disasters.

Press conferences

• Tuesday 5 June at the Centre International de Conferences Genève. Main speaker: Mr. John Holmes, UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs, with Mr. Sálvano Briceño, Director of the UN/ ISDR secretariat.
  
• Thursday 7 June at the Centre International de Conferences Genève, with Mr. John Holmes, UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Mr. Sálvano Briceño, Director of the UN/ISDR secretariat.

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