News and announcements

Cattle breeding or growing crops, such as maize and sorghum, are the most common occupations for people in the Sahel. But with frequent droughts, pastoralists and farmers often struggle to produce enough to eat...

'If you fail to prepare, you prepare to fail' is the notion disaster managers should follow. Effective Disaster Risk Reduction activities call for ‘Information Preparedness' - what often receives less attention in many developing countries due to a lack of coordination amongst stakeholder agencies...

'For too long, women have been more particularly affected by disasters due to social roles, discrimination and poverty. Furthermore their role and capacities in disaster risk reduction are not sufficiently recognized,' said Irina Bokova, UNESCO Director-General...

'There is clear recognition that people at risk from disasters must be empowered. Post 2015, we should see disaster risk reduction feature more prominently on the international development agenda,' said Al Panico, acting head of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies Asia Pacific Office...

'Strengthening community resilience and reducing disaster risks are critical elements in promoting sustainable development. They must be part of the international development agenda beyond 2015, post-Hyogo Framework for Action and the Millennium Development Goals,' says Budi Adiputro, secretary general of the Indonesian Red Cross...

'In Rwanda, women are cata­lysts of national development; the reason why they should also play key role in disaster manage­ment,' said Disaster Management and Refugee Affairs Minister Marcel Gatsinzi at the launch of the week-long campaign on disaster risk reduction...

UNDP and the Lebanese Government are to cooperate on developing a plan to boost media coverage on disaster risk reduction following a high-level meeting with media institutions last Friday hosted by the Minister for Information, Walid Al Daouk, and opened by UN Resident Coordinator, Robert Watkins.

In his blog post, William H. Hooke offers concrete steps towards better DRR and learning from Sandy. It calls for (i) increased learning from other industries (commercial aviation) on how to incorporate lessons learned from disasters, and (ii) also suggests that real estate developers file disaster risk statements when building on land...