Latest news on Disaster Risk Reduction

The World Bank Board of Executive Directors approved a new project for Argentina totaling US$200 million to strengthen flood risk management in the city of Buenos Aires and improve drainage systems in the Cildáñez, Vega and Maldonado Stream basins. The project will directly benefit 3 million people, including 1.3 million people living in the three...

Bangladesh has seen a near-record breaking 261 deaths so far this year from lightning strikes. The phenomemon is expected to increase by 50 percent by the end of the century. The problem has prompted Bangladesh's government to add lightning strikes to the country's list of official types of disasters. As a result, the government now compensates...

Dikes once protected an area near Nijmegen from flooding, but under a new policy for managing rising water levels due to climate change, the dikes have been moved back to allow a branch of the Rhine River to broaden out into its historic floodplain. The "room for the river" policy is meant to allow flooding in some areas in order to prevent...

These Principles, Guidelines, and Practices apply to situations in which migrants are present in a country experiencing a conflict or natural disaster. They relate to crisis preparedness, emergency response, and post-crisis action.When conflicts or natural disasters erupt, they can disproportionately affect migrants living, working, studying, traveling,...

Living shoreline is a broad term that encompasses a range of shoreline stabilization techniques along estuarine coasts, bays, sheltered coastlines, and tributaries. A living shoreline has a footprint that is made up mostly of native material. It incorporates vegetation or other living, natural “soft” elements alone or in combination...

This briefing note summarises how urban areas can be better managed to adapt to flood risk from rivers, surface water, sewers and ground water. The publication highlights the following points: Extreme rainfall events are predicted to become more frequent and severe in the future as the climate changes. Existing urban defences and drainage...

How does disaster risk reduction work in one of the important states of India: Assam? What kind of lessons can building resilience in Assam offer for Asia? This issue has a strategic list of activities and ideas.This issue of Southasiadisasters.net focuses on the theme of 'Building Resilience for All: Lessons from Assam for Asia'. It highlights...

This report explains the continuing impact that disasters have on education by profiling the 2015 earthquakes in Nepal. The findings reveal that: In countries where earthquakes caused large-scale disruption such as in Nepal, many children lost months of education. Almost a year after the eartquakes, children are still being taught in temporary learning...

This study, funded by CBM and HelpAge International, assesses the impact of the 2015 Nepal earthquake on older people and persons with disabilities. It identifies barriers to inclusion and participation, and provides recommendations to ensure that future humanitarian action addresses : the impact of the earthquake on older people and persons with disabilities; the...

Unlike much of India, where farmers are struggling to adapt to drought, crops in Assam haven't been ruined despite having no access to irrigation pipes or water pumps. Century-old irrigation canals that use the downhill flow of the area's rivers and streams to bring water to villagers and their fields, are being rehabilitated to deal with...