Update

'The clear message is that over the next two years everyone in disaster prone countries should work together to conduct thorough 'disaster risk assessments' and develop plans to address the risks,' writes Terry Gibson, calling for countries at the Global Platform to commit...

'The risk of losing wealth in disasters is actually increasing faster than that wealth is being created,' said Andrew Maskrey, coordinator of the 2011 Global Assessment Report on Disaster Risk Reduction launched today at the Third Session of the Global Platform for Disaster Reduction 2011...

The Agency for the Development of Women and Children (ADWAC) recently trained 15 village disaster management committees to build the capacity of communities on disaster mitigation and prevention, reports Haruna Kuyateh for Today...

This is 'an opportunity to agree on a global road map for more coordinated, better financed, higher-quality reconstruction after disasters' said Zoubida Allaoua, Director of the World Bank’s Finance, Economics and Urban Development Department, speaking at the pre-conference launch in a report by Dinesh Singh Rawat for ABC...

The Global Platform will be opened today by Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, who will also launch a report entitled 2011 Global Assessment Report on Disaster Risk Reduction – Revealing risks, redefining development. Deputy Secretary-General Asha-Rose Migiro will chair the forum in Geneva.

Faced with the rising costs of natural hazards, the United Nations is gathering world leaders and leading professionals for a conference in Geneva this week to examine how disaster risk reduction can be part of a preventative strategy, reports Brussels News Agency...

The launch of the DIPECHO supported project entitled ‘Building Disaster Resilience of Vulnerable Communities in Orissa and West Bengal’ comes at a time when world leaders are gathering in Geneva, Switzerland for the Third Session of the Global Platform on Disaster Risk Reduction...

As world leaders gather for The Global Platform on Disaster Risk Reduction in Geneva, CARE International warns that the increasing number of humanitarian disasters are eroding the coping ability of poor people and therefore undermining their ability to escape poverty...

'If world governments could turn to a central information source on natural hazards, many lives could be saved through better preparedness' said Professor Bill McGuire of geophysical and climate hazards at University College London. Learn more about information tools at the Global Platform this week...

The final touches are being added to the Third Session of the Global Platform for Disaster Risk Reduction, which will take place in Geneva, Switzerland from 8-13 May. The Global Platform will be opened officially by United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on May 10.