26 April 2013 – Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today marked the 27th anniversary of the worst nuclear power plant accident in history by stressing that the impact of the Chernobyl disaster must never be forgotten and calling for continued international assistance for the people and regions affected.

Period covered by this Final Report: 26 March 2012 to 26 February, 2013.

Appeal target (current): CHF 1,238,922.

Appeal coverage: 65%;

Appeal history:

• CHF 95,607 was initially allocated from the Federation’s Disaster Relief Emergency Fund (DREF) to support the national society in responding by delivering assistance.

• The Emergency Appeal was launched on 26 March, 2012 for CHF 1,238,922 for 8 months to assist 13,800 beneficiaries.

• Operations update No 1 was published on 30 May, 2012 to highlight the achievements of the operation then.

The Joint UNEP/OCHA Environment Unit (JEU) is a collaborative arrangement between the United Nations Environment Programme and the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. It responds to environmental emergencies by coordinating international efforts and mobilizing partners to support affected countries requesting assistance.

Kristalina Georgieva, the European Commissioner for International Cooperation, Humanitarian Aid and Crisis Response and Akihiro Ohta, Minister of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism of Japan have exchanged letters providing a framework to further enhance EU-Japan cooperation in disaster management.

By Yuki Matsuoka

KOBE, 11 March 2013 - UNISDR Chief Margareta Wahlström today announced that children from Japan who continue to live with the consequences of the Great East Japan Earthquake, will attend the Global Platform on Disaster Risk Reduction in May.

Psychological stresses are emerging amongst some of the 300,000 displaced survivors, particularly children and elderly people.

Japan's top priority is accelerating the "revitalization process". The government will focus on policies that benefit economic revival, reconstruction and crisis management - the three main 'pillars' for enacting meaningful change.

Three Pillars

1 . Economic Revival: For Japan, the most urgent issue is revitalizing the nation's economy to ensure stability and future prosperity.

Congo-Brazzaville, March 2013. Following the explosion of several munitions depots on 4 March 2012 in Congo-Brazzaville, Handicap International immediately set about securing the surrounding area and caring for the victims of the disaster. One year on, our work is complete, laying the foundations for the construction of social housing for thousands of people made homeless by the disaster.

By David Tereshchuk*

March 4, 2013—From providing accommodations for the homeless to investing in sunflowers.

That’s the broad span of good uses to which UMCOR, the United Methodist Committee on Relief, has been directing the outpouring of generosity from United Methodists and others of goodwill following Japan’s appalling triple disaster almost exactly two years ago.

Donations amounting to a remarkable $12 million were generated in response to the devastation wreaked by the March 11, 2011, earthquake, and the subsequent massive tsunami and nuclear catastrophe.