Disaster Risk

On 14 March 2011, tsunami damage extends to the horizon, in the city of Sendai, in Miyagi Prefecture, Japan.
UNICEF/Adam Dean

World Tsunami Awareness Day welcome boost for disaster risk reduction – UN official

23 December 2015
The head of the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction today welcomed the resolution adopted by the General Assembly recognizing 5 November as World Tsunami Awareness Day.
Robert Glasser, Secretary-General of CARE International during a press conference at the Palais des Nations, Geneva (December 2007).
UN Photo/Pierre-Michel Virot

Ban appoints experienced Australian national as new UN disaster risk reduction chief

27 November 2015
United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today announced the appointment of Australia’s Robert Glasser as Assistant Secretary-General and Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Disaster Risk Reduction, the UN Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNISDR).
A father holds his injured child as he surveys the damage to the devastated city of Balakot, Pakistan, following an earthquake in 2005.
IRIN/Edward Parsons

Natural disasters - New strategy aims to build resilience, reduce loss

20 March 2015
In a year when countries are set to adopt a global sustainable development agenda, and to forge a meaningful, binding climate change agreement, world leaders meeting in Sendai, Japan, signed on to a new framework for making the world safer from the threats of natural disasters.
Preparations underway in Sendai, Japan, for of the Third World Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction, which runs from 14-18 March 2015.
UNISDR/Andy McElroy

Lessons from Japan tsunami vital to new disaster risk reduction agreement, says UN official

11 March 2015
Three days before the opening of the Third World Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction, the head of the United Nations office dedicated to dealing with the threat posed by disasters took part today in a ceremony of solemn remembrance in Tokyo for those who died in the Great East Japan Earthquake and Tsunami of 11 March 2011.