UN marks International Day for Disaster Reduction
Disaster risk reduction should be a daily concern for everyone. According to the UN secretary General vulnerability to catastrophes is growing faster than the world’s capacity to strengthen resilience, as evidenced by the devastation wrought by the recent series of floods, earthquakes, tsunamis and droughts.
To mark the International Day for Disaster Reduction, the United Nations International Strategy for Disaster Reduction and its partners invited children and young people to “Step Up for Disaster Risk Reduction,” saying they were the groups most affected by disasters. An estimated 100 million young people are affected by reported disasters each year and thousands of them are killed and injured. In Nepal, for example, schoolchildren are taught the basics of building homes safely, while risk reduction and climate change adaptation activities involving children in Cuba are now being emulated in other parts of the world.
Recently, more than 600 young boys and girls in Africa, Asia and Latin America developed a Children’s Charter to reduce disaster risk. At events across the around the world today, and in the next 12 months, UNISDR will work with its partners – the UN Children’s Fund and non-governmental organizations such as Plan, Save the Children and World Vision to promote the new Children’s Charter for Disaster Risk Reduction.
In the Charter, children identified five priorities to strengthen resilience in the face of disasters: According to UNISDR, risk reduction includes disciplines such as disaster management, mitigation and preparedness. It is also crucial for sustainable development. According to this year’s issue of the UNISDR Global Assessment Report, the proportion of the population living in flood-prone river basins has risen by 114 per cent over the last 30 years and those living on cyclone-exposed coastlines by 192 per cent. It points outs that, more than half the world’s large cities, with populations ranging from two to 15 million, are located in areas at high risk of seismic activity.
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