News and announcements

A UN inter-agency assessment of sustainable development efforts in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) over the past 20 years proposes guidelines which include disaster risk reduction for moving the region toward sustainable development...

The UN Secretary-General's Special Representative for Disaster Risk Reduction, Margareta Wahlström, today discussed with the Bangladesh Government the country's huge shortfall in cyclone shelters and the protection of the country's coastline from rising sea-levels at the start of a three day mission to Bangladesh where the cyclone season starts on April 1.

'This can be a tremendous tool helping decision makers to choose the best solutions to the benefit of their citizens. We are too bad at sharing best practices as well as information on what not to do. This new interactive tool will make efforts much more efficient,' said Connie Hedegaard, European Commissioner for Climate Action...

PLoS today announced the launch of PLoS Currents: Disasters, a new, innovative open-access publication for the rapid communication of new research results and operational analyses derived from the study or management of all types of disasters. All research is citable and permanently archived in PubMed Central as well as indexed in Scopus and PubMed...

'The main message from the report is that we know enough to make good decisions about managing the risks of climate-related disasters. Sometimes we take advantage of this knowledge, but many times we do not,' said Chris Field, Co-Chair of IPCC’s Working Group II...

'It is imperative that individuals and families have an emergency plan and practice it. Getting together as a family to talk about what to do before, during and after a disaster could make the difference between becoming a victim or a survivor,' said FEMA Regional Administrator Ken Murphy...

'Each year during Tsunami Preparedness Week, local, state and federal agencies work together to inform the public about the dangers of tsunamis and what to do before, during and after one occurs,' said Edmund G. Brown Jr., Governor of the State of California...

Despite immense insured losses of USD 116 billion (a 142% increase over the previous year) arising from record earthquake and flood losses, the insurance industry weathered the year well and played a key role in risk management and post-disaster recovery financing...