disasters

Locust swarms in Kenya have the ability to destroy the crops and thus livelihoods of farming families.
FAO/Sven Torfinn

From locusts to cyclones: The human cost of interlinked disasters

8 September 2021
Climate and Environment

Many extreme environmental events have a devastating effect on people’s lives, and a new UN report reveals that many of them are linked by the same underlying causes. On the day the study is released, we look at the impact of a locust swarm on a Kenyan farmer, and the ways that Cyclone Amphan affected an Indian worker.

Cyclone Amphan made landfall in eastern India on Wednesday afternoon local time.
WB State Inter Agency Group on Disaster Management.

Human activity the common link between disasters around the world

8 September 2021
Climate and Environment

Disasters such as cyclones, floods, and droughts are more connected than we might think, and human activity is the common thread, a UN report released on Wednesday reveals.

Across the world, more incidents of extreme weather events are being recorded.
WMO/Daniel Pavlinovic

Climate and weather related disasters surge five-fold over 50 years, but early warnings save lives - WMO report

1 September 2021
Climate and Environment

Climate change and increasingly extreme weather events, have caused a surge in natural disasters over the past 50 years disproportionately impacting poorer countries, the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) and UN Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR) said on Wednesday.

Dr. Natalia Kanem, Executive Director of the UN Population Fund (UNFPA), attends a focus group discussion with women in Bangladesh.
© UNFPA/Lauren Anders Brown

$683 million appeal to deliver reproductive health services, where they’re most needed

11 February 2020
Women

With more than half of all maternal deaths occurring in countries affected by humanitarian crises and fragility, the UN Population Fund (UNFPA) is calling for greater international support to provide life-saving reproductive health and protection services in these locations. 

The view from the mayor's building of the desctruction caused by Cyclone Idai in Beira, Mozambiqu. (25 June 2019)
UN Photo/Eskinder Debebe

Reducing disaster risk is a good investment, and ‘the right thing to do’, says Guterres

13 October 2019
Economic Development

There is a strong economic case for climate resilience and reducing the risk of disasters, UN Secretary-General António Guterres said in a message to mark the International Day for Disaster Risk Reduction, which falls on Sunday.

Destruction caused by the 7.1-magnitude earthquake in Mexico City on 19 September 2017.
PAHO/WHO

UN stands ready to assist following deadly earthquake in Mexico

20 September 2017
Secretary-General António Guterres voiced sadness at the loss of life and damage resulting from the earthquake that occurred in Mexico today, and expressed the readiness of the United Nations to assist.
Flooding in Jakarta, Indonesia.
World Bank/Farhana Asnap

Disaster risk reduction ‘core development priority’ of Asia and the Pacific – UN regional body

30 October 2015
Building resilience in the face of natural disasters is “not a choice, but rather a collective imperative,” the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) declared today, as it called on all government agencies to take on disaster risk reduction as a priority and make it an integral part of sustainable development in the region.
Searching for survivors in the aftermath of the devasting earthquake in China (16 May 2008)

UN-backed forum ends with call to halve deaths from disasters by 2015

19 June 2009
A United Nations-backed disaster risk reduction forum wrapped up in Geneva today with a call to political leaders to take steps to cut in half by 2015 the number of deaths from natural hazards.
Sálvano Briceño

Learn the serious through play: UN launches children’s video game on disaster reduction

1 March 2007
From raging wildfires, devastating floods and towering tsunamis to roaring hurricanes and cataclysmic earthquakes, children can now learn how to respond to and mitigate disasters through a new internet video game launched today by the United Nations, the latest in a series of such UN web tools.
Jan Egeland briefs journlists

UN report spotlights ways to reduce potential devastation of natural disasters

14 July 2004
As the frequency of natural disasters rises, along with the number of people around the world whose lives and homes are at serious risk, the United Nations has launched a report highlighting 100 examples of how people are taking steps to make their communities less vulnerable when a catastrophe strikes.