Julio Kuroiwa, is a professor emeritus of the National University of Engineering, Lima, Peru. He has been a consulting engineer for 35 years, and is the author of 100 papers on natural and technological disasters. He has written four books on disaster prevention and risk reduction. In 1990, his contributions were recognized when he was awarded the United Nations Sasakawa Award for disaster reduction. We asked him a few questions while he was visiting Geneva to present a new English version of his book “Disaster reduction: Living in harmony with nature”.
United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR)
Jose Rubiera is the director of the Centro Nacional de pronosticos del Instituto de Meteorologia de Cuba and the weather forecaster for the main Cuban TV channel. UNISDR asked him a few questions about the importance of communication in disaster reduction, a topic that will be discussed at the World Conference on Disaster Reduction in Kobe next January.
United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR)
"I am very lucky that I survived the tsunami and very sad for all the people who died and hope that my experience will show the power of education and help to save more lives in the future"
United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR)
UN News Service. Ahead of tomorrow's address to the Economic and Social Council by former United States President Bill Clinton, United Nations Special Envoy overseeing recovery efforts from December's devastating Indian Ocean tsunami, Secretary-General Kofi Annan has issued his recommendations on how national, global and regional responses to natural disasters can be improved.
United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR)
Professor Kawata, a prominent professor in the field of disaster risk reduction at Kyoto University, was awarded for his promotion of research and knowledge about past disasters. In particular he has highlighted the bitter lessons learned from the Great Hanshin Awaji Earthquake (the Kobe Earthquake)...
United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR)
The UN Sasakawa Award Jury has selected Tony Gibbs, a national of Grenada and Barbados currently working with the Pan American Health Organization (World Health Organization in the Americas) on hospital safety, as one of its two 2007 Sasakawa Award Laureates.
United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR)
Tall buildings, bridges and residential development may be potential victims of catastrophe. When architects and engineers make the right decisions, quality of life and longevity improve....
Today millions of people all over Southern California are participaing in what the organizers are calling 'the largest earthquake drill in U.S. history'...
Pakistan is setting up an earthquake detection and tsunami early warning system supported by UNESCO and its Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC)...
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.
