Latest Resources

The March 11, 2011, Great East Japan (Tohoku) Earthquake and Tsunami: Societal Dimensions

The Tohoku, Japan, Tsunami of March 11, 2011: Effects on Structures

Geotechnical Effects of the 9.0 Magnitude Tohoku, Japan, Earthquake of March 11, 2011

NGO – the questionable charm of being defined by what you aren’t: A call for renaming an important group of actors

At the crossroads: climate change adaptation and disaster risk reduction in Asia and the Pacific

This report was prepared to provide a snapshot of how disaster risk reduction (DRR) and climate change adaptation (CCA) are undertaken and integrated, if at all, in the Asia Pacific region. It does so by taking stock of past and ongoing regional initiatives and by looking into the role of certain organizations in the implementation process. It also discusses key developments in three areas—political, policy and institutional—which are instrumental in facilitating the integration of DRR and CCA agendas in the region. Concluding remarks and next steps to push the integration forward are presented in the last section.

The report hopes to contribute to improved regional planning and programming for DRR and CCA, and highlights areas for cooperation among regional and sub-regional organizations. It also aims to support both national and regional stakeholders in DRR and CCA, such as governments, UN agencies, intergovernmental organizations, research and technical organizations, non-government organizations, and especially the ISDR Asia Partnership on Disaster Reduction (IAP) members, in order to enhance regional planning, programming, and cooperation.

Chengdu Declaration for Action

The five-point strategy of the Chengdu Declaration of Action includes enhancing cooperation between cities, e.g. sister-city model, strengthening local capacity and national-local cooperation; incorporating disaster resilient initiatives into urban development planning; raising more awareness in cities about disaster risk reduction. Other points of the Declaration look at tapping into and influencing international debates, such as the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development (Rio +20 in 2012), as well as improving disaster preparedness and emergency management of cities.

This Declaration is an outcome of both the 2011 World Cities Scientific Development Forum, held in Chengdu, China, on August 11-13, and the Mayors' Summit for Disaster Risk Reduction, which was part of the Forum.

Financing the resilient city: a demand driven approach to development, disaster risk reduction and climate adaptation

This ICLEI white paper provides a conceptual framework for better understanding how to integrate climate and other risk reduction measures in urban areas and systems. It considers resilience as an economic and performance model with far reaching implications. The report calls for more locally responsive climate financing investment strategies and instruments. It also sets the scene for and provides a valuable contribution to the ongoing international discussions on climate financing for adaptation; how it can be mobilized, leveraged and innovated for the local level.

Disaster risk reduction through climate change adaptation: Incheon declaration, REMAP and action plan

This document presents a summary of 4th Asian ministerial conference on disaster risk reduction (AMCDRR) focusing on the convergence of disaster risk reduction and climate change adaptation, information technology and green technology. It contains two parts: (i) the presentation and overviews of the conference, its structure, theme and organisation; (ii) the conference outcomes, including the Incheon declaration, the Incheon Regional Roadmap and Action Plan on disaster risk reduction through climate change adaptation in Asia and the Pacific (Incheon REMAP) and the Action plan for Incheon REMAP. It also includes an history of AMCDRR.

Chair`s Summary of the Third Session of the Global Platform for DRR

The Chair's Summary reflects interventions at the Joint Outcomes Session on 13 May, the last day of the Third Session of the Global Platform for Disaster Risk Reduction. This includes subsequent comments made on the draft summary which were received until 23 May. UNISDR has endeavoured to reflect most of the comments while at the same time respecting the need to keep the Chair's Summary succinct and action-orientated.

National Disaster Management Guidelines on Ensuring Disaster Resilient construction of Buildings and Infrastructure

The National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA), Government of India has formulated guidelines on ensuring disaster resilient construction of buildings and infrastructure financed through banks and other lending institutions. The NDMA has observed that in the context of disaster resilience there are certain critical gaps and the guidelines aim at addressing these gaps in the current process of approving the loan applications. It has been observed that the structural design of the proposed buildings and structures are not completed before submitting the application for a bank loan and no processes are in place at the banks to ensure that disaster resilience has indeed been incorporated in the assets during the design process at least before the construction begins.

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