UN World Conference on Disaster Risk

Reduction
 Modern disaster management
A four-phase approach comprehensive disaster
management is based upon four distinct
components:
Mitigation

Disaster Preparedness
Recovery management

Response
 International Decade of Natural
Disaster Reduction (IDNDR)
• On December 11, 1987, the UN General Assembly
declared the 1990s as the International Decade
of Natural Disaster Reduction (IDNDR)

• This action was taken to promote internationally

coordinated efforts ------

1. To reduce material losses and social and

economic disruption caused by natural disaster
 International Decade of Natural
Disaster Reduction (IDNDR)
2. To improve each United Nations (UN)
member country’s capacity ----
✓to prevent or diminish adverse effects from
natural disasters

✓to establish guidelines for applying existing

science and technology to reduce the impact
of natural disasters
World Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction
❑ The World Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction is a series
of United Nations conferences focusing
on disaster and climate risk management
in the context of sustainable development.

• The World Conference has been convened three times, with

each edition to date having been hosted by Japan:
in Yokohama in 1994,
in Kobe in 2005 and
in Sendai in 2015.

• As requested by the UN General Assembly, the United Nations

Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNISDR) served as the
coordinating body for the Second and Third UN World
Conference on Disaster Reduction in 2005 and 2015.
 World Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction

• The conferences bring together government

officials and other stakeholders such as
✓ NGOs,
✓ civil society organizations,
✓local government and
✓private sector

- to discuss how to strengthen

the sustainability of development
by managing disaster and climate risks
 World Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction
1. First World Conference on Natural Disasters
in Yokohama 1994
– Ten principles of the Yokohama Strategy for a Safer
World

2. Second World Conference on Disaster Reduction

in Kobe, 2005
– Hyogo Framework for Action

3. Third UN World Conference on Disaster Risk

Reduction (WCDRR)
in Sendai 2015
– Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction
2015–2030
 World Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction

First World Conference on Natural

Disasters in Yokohama, 1994
❑ UN member states met at the First World Conference on Natural Disasters
in Yokohama, Japan
― from May 23 to 27, 1994
― adopted the Yokohama Strategy for a Safer World: Guidelines for Natural
Disaster Prevention, Preparedness and Mitigation and its Plan of Action
― endorsed by the UN General Assembly in 1994.

❑ It assessed the progress attained by the International Decade of Natural

Disaster Reduction (IDNDR) and

• established 10 principles for its strategy, a plan of action and a follow-up.

• provide guidelines for natural disaster prevention, preparedness and mitigation.

 World Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction

Ten principles of the Yokohama Strategy

for a Safer World
1. Risk assessment is a required step for the adoption of adequate and successful
disaster reduction policies and measures.

2. Disaster prevention and preparedness are of primary importance in reducing

the need for disaster relief.

3. Disaster prevention and preparedness should be considered integral aspects of

development policy and planning at national, regional, bilateral, multilateral
and international levels.

4. The development and strengthening of capacities to prevent, reduce and

mitigate disasters is a top priority area to be addressed during the Decade so as
to provide a strong basis for follow-up activities to the Decade.
 World Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction
Ten principles of the Yokohama
Strategy for a Safer World
5. Early warnings of impending disasters and their effective dissemination
using telecommunications, including broadcast services, are key factors to
successful disaster prevention and preparedness.

6. Preventive measures are most effective when they involve participation at

all levels, from the local community through the national government to
the regional and international level.

7. Vulnerability can be reduced by the application of proper design and

patterns of development focused on target groups, by appropriate
education and training of the whole community

8. The international community accepts the need to share the necessary

technology to prevent, reduce and mitigate disaster; this should be made
freely available and in a timely manner as an integral part of technical
cooperation.
 World Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction
Ten principles of the Yokohama
Strategy for a Safer World
9. Environmental protection as a component of sustainable
development consistent with poverty alleviation is imperative
in the prevention and mitigation of natural disasters.

10. Each country bears the primary responsibility for protecting

its people, infrastructure, and other national assets from the
impact of natural disasters. The international community
should demonstrate strong political determination required
to mobilize adequate and make efficient use of existing
resources, including financial, scientific and technological
means, in the field of natural disaster reduction, bearing in
mind the needs of the developing countries, particularly the
least developed countries (ISDR, 1994)
 World Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction

Second World Conference on Disaster Reduction in

Kobe, Japan, 2005

• from 18 to 22 January 2005

• 4,000 participants from around the world
❑Due to the proximity to the devastating Indian Ocean
tsunami, developing a global tsunami warning system was
high on the agenda.

❑The goal of the World Conference was to find ways-

✓to reduce the toll of disasters through preparation, and

✓to reduce human casualties.

 World Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction

Cont………………

✓ to reduce disaster damage

✓ to healthcare after disaster
✓ to early warning systems
✓ to safe building standards
✓ to agree upon cost-effective preventative counter
measures
 World Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction
Hyogo Framework for Action (HFA)
(2005–2015)
• Outcome: Building the Resilience of Nations and
Communities to Disasters

• The Hyogo Framework (HFA) was the first plan

➢ to explain, describe and detail the work required from

all different sectors and actors to reduce disaster losses.

• It was developed and agreed on with the many partners

needed to reduce disaster risk – governments,
international agencies, disaster experts and many
others – bringing them into a common system of
coordination.
The HFA set five specific priorities for action:

1. Making disaster risk reduction;

2. Improving risk information and early
warning;
3. Building a culture of safety and resilience;
4. Reducing the risks in key sectors;
5. Strengthening preparedness for response
 World Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction

Third UN World Conference on Disaster Risk

Reduction (WCDRR) in Sendai, Japan, 2015
• From 14 to 18 march 2015

• Sendai is the largest city of miyagi prefecture, in north-eastern

Japan

• It was hit by the great east japan earthquake, 130 kilometres from
the epicentre

• The conference included discussion of the aftermath of

the japanese response to the 2011 disaster and how japan's early
warning system can save live
when earthquakes and tsunamis strike
• Cyclone pam hitting Vanuatu. Vanuatu president urgently
requested international assistance for his people.
 World Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction

• in 2015, many developed nations announced

they would partner with smaller countries to
prepare for future disaster relief operations.

• The conference adopted the Sendai Framework

for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015–2030.

• The Sendai Framework is the first major

agreement of the post-2015 development
agenda
➢ 7 targets and
➢ 4 priorities for action.
➢ It was endorsed by the UN General Assembly in
June 2015.
 World Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction
Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk
Reduction 2015–2030
• It is a 15-year non-binding agreement
• Recognizes that the state has the primary role to
reduce disaster risk
• that responsibility should be shared with other
stakeholders including local government and the
private sector.

• It aims for the following outcome:

’’The substantial reduction of disaster risk and
losses in lives, livelihoods and health and
in the economic, physical, social, cultural and
environmental assets
of persons, businesses, communities and countries.’’
• The Sendai Framework emerged from three years' of consultations
and negotiations,
✓ supported and coordinated by UNISDR,
during which UN member states, NGOs and other stakeholders made
calls for an improved version of the existing Hyogo Framework,
with a set of common standards, a comprehensive framework with
achievable targets, and a legally-based instrument for disaster risk
reduction.

✓ Member states also emphasized the need to tackle disaster risk

reduction and climate change adaption
when setting the Sustainable Development Goals, particularly in light
of an insufficient focus on risk reduction and resilience in the
original Millennium Development Goals.
 The Sendai Framework sets four specific
priorities for action:

1. Understanding disaster risk;

2. Strengthening disaster risk governance to
manage disaster risk;
3. Investing in disaster risk reduction for
resilience;
4. Enhancing disaster preparedness for effective
response, and to "Build Back Better" in
recovery, rehabilitation and reconstruction.
 World Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction

7 global targets
1. Substantially reduce global disaster mortality by 2030, aiming to
lower average per 100,000 global mortality between 2020–2030
compared to 2005–2015;

2. Substantially reduce the number of affected people globally by

2030,
aiming to lower the average global figure per 100,000 between
2020–2030 compared to 2005–2015;

3. Reduce direct disaster economic loss in relation to global gross

domestic product by 2030;

4. Substantially reduce disaster damage to critical infrastructure and

disruption of basic services, among them health and educational
facilities, including through developing their resilience by 2030;
5. Substantially increase the number of countries with
national and local disaster risk reduction strategies

6. Substantially enhance international cooperation

to developing countries through adequate and
sustainable support to complement their national
actions for implementation of the framework by
2030;

7. Substantially increase the availability of and access

to multi-hazard early warning systems and disaster risk
information and assessments to the people by 2030