Update

Although natural hazards may seem a distant threat to Great Britain, the population should still be prepared writes Oliver Stallwood for Metro.UK...

Residents of Sandwip island are urging the government to fund a multi-million-dollar, three-kilometre-long stretch of concrete and earth wall to halt erosion, threatening the earthen embankments that protect 400,000 people, reports Syful Islam for Reuters AlertNet...

'If we are going to achieve MDG targets for which governments have allocated some budget, perhaps we could consider increasing disaster risk reduction funds; otherwise you can't achieve these goals' said Margareta Wahlstrom, UN special representative for disaster risk reduction...

New automated weather stations could boost Ethiopia's fledgling agricultural insurance schemes, expanding the use of payouts triggered by abnormally low rainfall and reducing costly visual verification of yield losses...

'If there is one development issue that cuts across all other development concerns, it is disaster risk reduction. Resolving this issue is today's most daunting task for all sectors since disasters abound and are getting bigger, deadlier and worse,' said Senator Legarda in her opening statement today...

'By tackling our vulnerability, we can significantly reduce the risk of disaster and we can build safer and more resilient community-led mitigation measures' said Vice Mayor Alfredo Arquillano Jr. of San Francisco, one of four towns in the Camotes Group of Islands, Cebu, Philippines, on Pagtuki, the radio programme of the Ramon Aboitiz Foundation Inc.(RAFI)...

With climate change, population growth and food shortages predicted, our cities will need to adapt to a difficult future says John Stanley, Adjunct Professor at the Institute of Transport and Logistics Studies at the University of Sydney...

With its solid experience in the field of DRR, from earthquake research to flood early warning systems, Japan stands to further strengthen its relationship with UNESCO, said Mr Sumio Mabuchi, Minister of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism, at a meeting with UNESCO Director-General Irina Bokova this week...

Japan and Australia are in the process of establishing an insurance scheme to ensure that funds are rapidly available for Pacific Island countries hit by natural hazards, reports Rowan Callick, Asia-Pacific editor for the Australian...

Africa has struggled to make accurate and detailed predictions of the impact of climate change on its countries, but a recent experiment, CORDEX, which began earlier in 2010, will see the continent take a 'quantum leap' in climate change projection, says Bruce Hewitson, the project’s Africa coordinator...