Update

USA Today's reporter, Scott Martin looks at recent moves by technological experts to develop ways to warn people about imminent natural hazards through mobile devices and game consoles, further to the spate of destructive tornadoes that hit the U.S. recently. More on early warning at the Global Platform...

'The aim was not only to get schools up and running, but also to mitigate the potentially devastating impact of any future natural disasters by rebuilding and improving infrastructure,' says Plan's Prem Shukla, referring to the 51 schools built and or renovated by the charity. More on school safety at the Global Platform...

GRF Davos launches a call for project proposals in support of the recovery process in Japan. Project proposals will be evaluated and submitted to potential donors as a pre-selection for their own decision making process. Visit the GRF Davos exhibition booth at the Global Platform 2011...

'It is important for policymakers to note that, [..] a very limited network of well-placed telemetred seismic stations provide a great deal of value in hazard mitigation', said Andrew Lockhart, a geophysicist with the US Volcano Disaster Assistance Program. More on hazard mitigation at the Global Platform...

China will start building a test satellite later this month to detect electromagnetic anomalies in the atmosphere, as part of the country's proposed earthquake monitoring network, and hopes to launch it in 2014, reports Li Jiao for SciDevNet...

'We plan to count earthquake prone houses next fiscal' said Dinesh Kumar Thapaliya, spokesperson at Ministry of Local Development, adding that water-induced hazards will be among the hazards being dealt with at the local level. Nepal will be among countries attending the Global Platform...

An ordinance which seeks to establish the Provincial Climate Change and Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (PCCDRRMC) and promote the involvement of all sectors and stakeholders in climate change and disaster risk reduction programs was recently approved by the Sangguniang Panlalawigan here.

The newly released 'Earth Knowledge Portal' developed by the information technology firm, Earth Knowledge, is intended to enable users to view a huge variety of information, including recent earthquakes, geological information and much more. Visit the Global Platform for more on information tools for disaster risk reduction...

Ubyrisk a décidé de rendre publiques certaines statistiques sous la forme d’un bilan décennal des catastrophes naturelles dans le monde, complétant ce premier document par un zoom dédié à la France. Plus d'information concernant la réduction des risques en France pendant le Global Platform...

'How can the most vulnerable women access resources to build the resilience of their communities?' asks Nina Somera, from the non-governmental organization, GenderCC - Women for Climate Justice, in an editorial for Reuters AlertNet. More issues on Gender and climate at the Global Platform...