natural

The United Nations International Strategy for Disaster Reduction (ISDR) today called on governments to better protect people against more “predictable” natural hazards, especially flooding, to reduce the risk and vulnerability of local populations.

Three and half years after a massive earthquake killed more than 26,000 people in the ancient city of Bam, Iran, a regional centre to reduce the damage from such seismic threats was launched in the country today by the Government and the United Nations unit focussed on disaster mitigation.

The high death toll in 2005 from tsunamis, hurricanes, typhoons, mudslides, earthquakes, volcanoes, locusts and pandemics can not necessarily be blamed on “natural” disaster, according to the United Nations health agency which today pointed to a complex mix of human and natural factors that led to tragedy in those events.

With growing population pressures on land in big urban centres, city managers find opportunities in using underground space for transportation, shopping and parking but do not always face the possible subterranean risks from natural disasters, according to United Nations University experts.

With hunger and related diseases claiming as many lives each week as the devastating Indian Ocean tsunami – more than 165,000 at latest count – the United Nations World Conference on Disaster Reduction (WCDR) today shone the spotlight on the silent killers, whose terrible toll can be slashed by emergency preparedness.

The United Nations today launched comprehensive plans for a global early warning system to reduce the deadly toll of natural hazards, combining speedy transmission of data with training of populations at risk in a strategy that experts say could have saved scores of thousands of lives in the recent Indian Ocean tsunami.

Three weeks after a devastating Indian Ocean tsunami killed at least 160,000 people, the United Nations World Conference on Disaster Reduction (WCDR) opened today in Kobe, Japan – site of a disastrous earthquake that claimed 40,000 lives 10 years ago – with a clarion call for better measures to mitigate the effects of natural hazards.

Ten years after an earthquake killed nearly 6,500 people and injured 40,000 in 20 seconds in Kobe, Japan, 4,000 delegates from 150 countries have gathered at ground zero this week for a United Nations conference on disaster reduction, its deliberations given added urgency by nature's latest assault, the devastating Indian Ocean tsunami.

Emergency agencies around the world can now get the latest forecasts and alerts on drought, floods, tropical storms, locust infestation, El Niño, earthquakes and volcanic activity under a new humanitarian early warning service launched today by the United Nations and its partners.

The General Assembly met today for a daylong discussion on strengthening the coordination of United Nations humanitarian and disaster relief assistance, with speakers stressing the importance of including the views of and working with local groups in developing emergency programmes in order to ensure their long-term success.