IHA/1319

With droughts set to become even more frequent and intense, food and water shortages, and conflicts would also increase. Drought resilience, through awareness-raising, conservation measures, capacity-building and local community involvement, was vital.

IHA/1321

Disaster Losses Would Be Cut if Children Knew What to Do, They Say

GENEVA, 22 May (United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction) ‑ Children can and should play a crucial role in disaster risk reduction, a panel of children from disaster-prone regions told the Global Platform for Disaster Risk Reduction this afternoon.

By Andy McElroy

GENEVA, 22 May 2013 - The inventor of the world's first interactive digital globe that graphically depicts the vulnerability of our planet to disasters today challenged global policymakers to show more leadership in tackling the growing risks facing populations worldwide.

Con el lema “Porque la Reducción de Riesgo de Desastres es Responsabilidad de todos”, representantes de diversas instituciones gubernamentales y no gubernamentales, participaron del Foro de la Política Nacional de Gestión Integral de Riesgo de Desastres; para socializar los contenidos documentados en la Plataforma Nacional y como mecanismo de consulta para incorporar y actualizar aspectos que deban ser tenidos para la implementación efectiva de sus lineamientos.

By Anthony Drummond

GENEVA, May 22, 2013 - Community voices from around the world today urged disaster management and climate change adaptation practitioners to take greater account of indigenous knowledge and expertise in building community resilience to withstand natural hazards.

GENEVA, 22 May 2013 - Representatives from 35 governments who met with business executives and senior experts at the 4th Global Platform for Disaster Risk Reduction, have issued a call "to develop nationally agreed standards for hazard risk assessments especially of critical infrastructure (including schools, health centers, electricity and water supply systems, nodal ITC centres, road and transport systems) by 2015."

IHA/1316

GENEVA, 21 May (United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction) — As disaster risk reduction experts met in Geneva this afternoon on strengthening partnerships for small island developing States, there were many calls for inter-island cooperation, as well as adequate financial and technical resources.

Gyan Chandra Acharya, United Nations High Representative for the Least Developed Countries, Landlocked Developing Countries and Small Island Developing States, said that natural disasters were a fact of life in those countries, but their impact should not be.

IHA/1315

GENEVA, 21 May (United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction) ‑ The private sector’s potential role in building resilient societies, and especially in repairing vital infrastructure damaged by disasters, was highlighted by several panellists this afternoon at the Global Platform for Disaster Risk Reduction, which opened here yesterday. Speaking at a plenary session on “Private sector for resilient societies: ingredients for success”, several panellists warned that without such a role the world’s future was endangered.