Update

At the launch of the Gambia National Platform for Disaster Risk Reduction, vice president of The Gambia said, 'We are now transitioning from managing crisis to managing risks and it is therefore important to adopt a new strategy, which directly involves vulnerable people themselves in planning and implementation of mitigation measures'...

WFP has launched a completely revamped specialist website – the Humanitarian Early Warning Service – providing up-to-the-minute information on natural hazards around the world. As world attention focused on earthquake-stricken Japan in recent days, thousands of users downloaded maps and consulted quake reports...

BBC Caribbean reports that calls are being made by the US Congress on the Obama administration to establish a warning system for the US territory and the Caribbean. 'This centre will result in improved tsunami detection, warning and education activities in the Caribbean,' said Pedro Pierluisi...

'We have too many structures with poor building standard. We have too many structures in poor soil. We have no contingency plan. We have little preparedness. We cannot help ourselves much in times of need' said UNISDR's Jerry Velasquez, expressing his deep concern in a recent interview with Marichu Villanueva...

The director of the California Institute of Environmental Design and Management (CIEDM) in Arcadia, California (USA) calls upon city leaders and the community at large to mobilize itself and engage in disaster risk reduction efforts...

Following the devastating tsunami that struck Japan, 33 countries are preparing to participate on 23 March in the first full-scale simulated tsunami alert exercise in the Caribbean. The goal is to test the Tsunami and other Coastal Hazards Warning System for the Caribbean and Adjacent Regions...

'Political will and commitment at the highest level is critical on this issue. Experiences of the recent past have demonstrated that if we are prepared it is possible to mitigate effectively the impact of natural hazards. Let us learn from all the expensive and painful lessons and act with vigilance and resilience, not with complacency,' said ASG Ramdin...

Con el objetivo de analizar temas relacionados con la reducción del riesgo de desastres, el ministro del Ambiente de Paraguay, Óscar Rivas, participa junto con cerca de 300 expertos de más de 30 países y territorios de la región, de una reunión internacional en Nuevo Vallarta, estado mexicano de Nayarit...

'By the measure of self-help, the Japanese have already shown great signs of resilience, which benefits from good disaster preparedness,' writes Dr Sheri Fink, in a report for Time...

'Human error played a key role in last year’s devastating floods in Pakistan,' writes Daanish Mustafa and David Wrathall, describing the vulnerability of the Indus basin and calling for a new approach to its management....