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Senator Loren Legarda today reiterated her call to strengthen the country's disaster risk reduction and climate change adaptation measures, encouraging local legislators to translate national laws on disaster risk reduction and climate change adaptation to local ordinances attuned to their locality's vulnerabilities....

Risk preparedness is better than responding to disasters, according to Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (PHIVOLCS) Director Renato Solidum.

The Philippines has ordered all local government units to check the integrity of structures in the wake of initial devastation wrought by a powerful quake in Japan, which triggered a deadly tsunami...

Emergency officials in Papua New Guinea and Indonesia - two countries in the line of a deadly tsunami that has killed nearly 2,000 in Japan, remain vigilant, despite thus far being spared any spillover impact. 'Had the tsunami occurred in PNG many lives would have been saved as the warnings were well dispersed over most communities in low-lying areas' said former Health Minister Peter Barter...

'The numbers of people exposed to risk has risen from thousands to millions. None of these megacities or their populations enjoy the remarkable level of earthquake preparedness seen in Japan. [..] perhaps it will raise awareness of the pressing need to reduce the risk to humans in vulnerable cities across the world' says Professor Colin Stark, of Columbia University in an editorial...

Speaking to UN Radio, two of the UN's top officials on disaster reduction weigh in on the devastation caused by an earthquake measuring 9.0 on the Richter scale that struck northeastern Japan on Friday and triggered a tsunami that engulfed coastal towns and cities along Miyagi, Iwate, and Fukushima prefectures. In the interviews, they highlighted the importance of disaster risk reduction and Japan's disaster preparedness.

'We need governments and donors to start digging deep and investing money in disaster preparedness now. And this needs long term commitment. Disaster risk reduction and response is not a hundred metre sprint. It is a marathon race,' says Unni Krishnan Disaster Response Policy Coordinator for Plan International...

Cities worldwide are failing to take necessary steps to protect residents from the likely impacts of climate change, even though billions of urban dwellers are vulnerable to heat waves, sea level rise, and other changes associated with warming temperatures says Patricia Romero Lankao of NCAR. Learn more about making cities resilient at the Global Platform...