Latest news on Disaster Risk Reduction

This working paper documents Ethiopia’s lessons from the study ‘Lesson learning from national climate compatible development planning’, which captured and shared institutional experiences of climate compatible development. This publication highlights results from this study in three thematic areas: building a knowledge...

The African Drought Conference (ADC) on "Enhancing resilience to drought events on the African continent" concluded the 22nd August 2016 in Windhoek, Namibia, after adopting the Windhoek Declaration. The conference built on 11th Session of the Conference Of Parties (COP-11) of the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification,...

This document provides an estimate of the cost of the 2014 drought to economic sectors of considerable importance in the region, which are significantly affected by decreased precipitation. These include the agricultural sector, which generates a significant portion of production in rural areas, and in particular provides employment to the most economically...

The World Risk Report 2016 analyses the role that infrastructure plays in shaping a country’s disaster risk. The World Risk Index, calculated by the University of Stuttgart, is an integral part of the report as it ranks 171 countries according to their risk of becoming a victim of a disaster as a result of natural hazards such as...

This is the progress report by the Glasgow Airport Limited (GLAL) on its climate change adaptations. The report sets out the Airport's progress in adapting to the current and future predicted effects of climate change. For GLAL the most significant climate change risks arise from projected longer term changes to temperature...

For generations nomadic Mongolian herders have been able to survive in one of the harshest climates in the world, but rising temperatures, desertification and increasingly erratic weather now threaten their livelihood. Workshops help prepare for future challenges related to climate change, including better use of technology to improve safety and provide...

Objective measures of storm intensity show that North Atlantic hurricanes have grown more destructive. But residents' views depend more on gender, belief in climate change and recent experience with hurricanes, according to a new study. Understanding how people perceive the threat of hurricanes is crucial for preparedness and policies to make communities...

Personalizing disaster alert applications to fit the individual user could dramatically improve civilian preparedness in events like the Wednesday earthquake that devastated central Italy, says an Israeli research team. The optimal alert might use different sounds, texts, images and vibrations tailored to fit the individual user, both before and after...

Italy is once more facing up to its failure to protect people from seismic disaster. Experts estimate that some 70% of Italy's buildings are not built to anti-seismic standards with codes routinely not applied to older buildings when they are refurbished, and not respected at all when new ones are built, despite eight devestating earthquakes in past...

Newfound enthusiasm for the latest technologies, such as drones and smartphones, to improve the way aid is provided to people in disasters may be overblown, experts warned on Thursday. Technology is no substitute for sound infrastructure - from transport to telecoms and power networks - that must be built with disaster risks in mind and properly maintained.