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The Japanese Prime Minister, Naoto Kan and his Australian counterpart, Julia Gillard have both pledged to reinforce bilateral efforts in dealing with natural hazards, in the wake of the recent earthquake, reports Xinhua. More on disaster preparedness at the Global Platform...

'The catastrophe events that have taken place this year [..] are part of Australia's really long history of floods, fires, droughts' said Belinda Hutchinson, chairman of Australia's insurer, QBE. Australia is one of the many countries that will be present at the Global Platform in May...

The notes and activities in the Survival Island kit take the issue of six major natural disasters in the Pacific to the classroom so students can relate to them and learn how to tackle them.

This educational kit was put together under the 'Reducing

Peter Boyer is a freelance writer specialising in climate science who has written a weekly column, Climate Challenge, for The Mercury since September 2007, and has been a member of Al Gore’s Australian Climate Project team of volunteer presenters since November 2006...

'We are nowhere near as sophisticated as a community as for instance New Zealand is, or for that matter Japan is, in respect to tsunamis' said the federal attorney-general Robert McClelland. 'I think in short there is progress. It's moving but it could move more quickly.'...

'The latest figures back that up and indicate the cost is likely to be even larger than initially thought,' said Treasurer Wayne Swan in a report by the BBC...

Zurich Financial Services Group today announced that it currently estimates aggregate claims of approximately USD 500 million for the five natural catastrophes that have hit the Asia-Pacific region since the beginning of the year...

According to Swiss Re’s latest sigma study, worldwide economic losses from natural catastrophes and man-made disasters were USD 218 billion in 2010, more than triple the 2009 figure of USD 68 billion. Approximately 304 000 people died in these events, the highest number since 1976...