Press release

In an official ceremony today, the Mayor of Rome, Gianni Alemanno, and the Mayor of Florence, Matteo Renzi, officially marked their cities’ participation in the United Nations World Disaster Reduction Campaign “Making Cities Resilient – My City is Getting Ready!” which involves over 600 cities worldwide. The Mayor of Milan, too, has officially declared her willingness to join the campaign.

A new report from the United Nations confirms what governments already hear but are slow to believe: that disciplined public sector involvement in “disaster risk reduction” can significantly reduce setbacks brought by hundreds of droughts, earthquakes, wildfires, hurricanes and other hazards that befall the world each year, on average.

In a signing ceremony held in Lami on 8th March 2011, Special Administrator Suva/Lami Mr. Chandu Umaria signed Lami’s Certificate of Commitment to Disaster Resilience for the 2010-2011 World Disaster Reduction Campaign “Making Cities Resilient“. Lami is the first Pacific island city to join the global campaign coordinated by the United Nations International Strategy for Disaster Reduction (UNISDR).

The five largest cities and most important economic centers of Viet Nam pledged to make cities safer against disasters at the second National Forum on Disaster Risk Reduction and Climate Change Adaptation, chaired by Deputy Prime Minister Hoang Trung Hai today. The Forum set a firm plan to establish the National Platform and launched the World Disaster Reduction Campaign “Making Cities Resilient- My City is Getting Ready.”

Addressing journalists in Islamabad on 22 February, the Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Disaster Risk Reduction, Margareta Wahlström, stressed the importance of building resilience to future floods, just as Pakistan embarks on the reconstruction of flood-affected areas following the devastating floods of July 2010.

Kuala Lumpur, Putrajaya and Melaka were named Role Model Cities as part of the United Nations-led “Making Resilient Cities” campaign, which was launched during Malaysia’s National Disaster Awareness Day celebrations from 18 to 19 February. These three major Malaysian cities were chosen for their ability to meet and inspire others around the world to take up ten essential actions that reduce disaster risk.

The African Union (AU) Executive Council has endorsed the report of the second African Ministerial Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR). This was done at the 16th African Union Summit, held in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia from 25-31 January. The report includes the extended Programme of Action for the implementation of the Africa Strategy for DRR (2006-2015) and the recommendations of the second African Ministerial Declaration on DRR held in Nairobi in April 2010.

Heads of States welcomed and endorsed the "Arab Strategy for Disaster Risk Reduction 2020" in recognition of the increasing risk and frequency of disasters that challenge the development process in the region during the 2nd Summit for Socio Economic Development of the Council of Arab Ministers Responsible for the Environment (CAMRE) held in Egypt in January 2011.

In the wake of recent floods and landslides in the Philippines, which have affected some 600,000 people, the Philippine Government today reconfirmed their commitment to make schools and hospitals in the country’s cities disaster resilient. The commitment, led by the Secretary of Education and Health, follows the pledge by the previous Government in 2009 to make more than 60,000 schools and health facilities in the Philippines safer from disasters. Both Departments of Education and Health committed to inspect all schools and hospitals for disaster vulnerability and to assist in identifying interventions to make them safer within the 2012 government budget.

North-eastern Australia suffered no casualties after Cyclone Yasi, which UNISDR says was due to a high level of risk awareness and planning, rather than a “miracle,” as some call it. Tropical Cyclone Yasi crossed the Australian mainland at midnight local time on Wednesday, but despite its category-5 strength, there were no reports of serious injuries or fatalities, according to a situation update from the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.