News and announcements

'The congress will focus on climate change, identify its impacts, review the gender aspects, study its implications and then formulate gender-responsive legislation and policies said Dr. Kim Jung-Sook, president of the CAPWP....

'Starting 2009, the anti-disaster ability would be one integral part of grid planning. Reports on new power facility building projects must be made, and with it, necessary protective measures' said Zhang Guobao, vice director of the NDRC

'We should promote the use of anti-seismic engineering technology innovation to build safer residential areas, communities and cities' said Vice Premier Hui Liangyu...

'More than one hundred people have now attended the course and I expect an additional 50-75 will take it in the coming year.' said Joseph Espi, acting director of the Centre for Disaster Reduction in Port Moresby....

Sensible and cost effective risk reduction programmes, such as early warning systems, strengthened building codes, and emergency preparedness strategies, are the best defense against future catastrophe....

'Legislation enacted a disaster mitigation act in 2000. Each county is encouraged to have a hazard mitigation plan in place' said Nicholas Pinter, a geology professor from Southern Illinois University Carbondale....

Participants at a United Nations-backed meeting held in Bangkok agreed that the need to “build back better” and a focus on disaster risk reduction should be key elements of the post-Cyclone Nargis recovery process in Myanmar....

The staged tsunami drill, “Exercise Pacific Wave 08,” will involve two days of testing the Pacific Tsunami Warning and Mitigation System (PTWS) - a UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) established network to promote the exchange of seismic and sea level data for rapid tsunami detection.