Report of the World Conference on Disaster Reduction A/CONF.206/6

This document reports on the World Conference on Disaster Reduction, which five specific objectives were: (i) to conclude and report on the review of the Yokohama Strategy and its Plan of Action, with a view to updating the guiding framework on disaster reduction for the twenty-first century; (ii) to identify specific activities aimed at ensuring the implementation of relevant provisions of the Johannesburg Plan of Implementation of the World Summit on Sustainable Development on vulnerability, risk assessment and disaster management; (iii) to share good practices and lessons learned to further disaster reduction within the context of attaining sustainable development, and to identify gaps and challenges; (iv) to increase awareness of the importance of disaster reduction policies, thereby facilitating and promoting the implementation of those policies; and (v) to increase the reliability and availability of appropriate disaster-related information to the public and disaster management agencies in all regions, as set out in relevant provisions of the Johannesburg Plan of Implementation.

The Conference was held from 18 to 22 January 2005 in Kobe, Hyogo, Japan, and adopted the Hyogo Framework for Action 2005-2015: Building the Resilience of Nations and Communities to Disasters. It provided a unique opportunity to promote a strategic and systematic approach to reducing vulnerabilities and risks to hazards. It underscored the need for, and identified ways of, building the resilience of nations and communities to disasters.