UNDRR News

The Fourth World Tsunami Museum Conference (WTMC4) was held in Sendai City, Japan on the 15th of December 2022 with a focus on the role of youth and tsunami museums on the resilience of societies.

At the High School Students Summit on World Tsunami Awareness Day 2022 in Niigata, Japan, students from around the world gathered – both virtually and in person – to discuss, learn, and reaffirm their commitment to disaster risk reduction.

Non-governmental stakeholder groups, including the private sector and scientific organizations, have increased their commitments to DRR since 2019, according to a new report released by the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR).

On 19 January, the International Recovery Forum 2022 concluded with a strong call to prioritize preparedness for recovery and invest in resilience before a disaster strikes.

ARISE Japan’s annual public symposium, titled “Creating disaster resilient communities by ‘going local’ in DRR,” was held online on 2 March 2021. The event was attended by 60 participants, over half of whom were from the wider private sector, as well as others from academia, local government, and civil society.

This article captures the experiences and reflections of Japanese UN staff as they recall where they were and what they did ten years ago when Japan was struck by the most powerful earthquake ever recorded; the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake.

Ahead of this year’s World Tsunami Awareness Day (WTAD) on 5 November, three winners of the 2020 Hamaguchi Award were announced by the International Promotion Committee for Tsunami/Coastal Disaster Resilience Technology.

UNDRR Asia-Pacific introduced its major stakeholder groups to the Sendai Framework Voluntary Commitments platform. It is an online platform that can help them gain recognition for their work, learn what others in their field are doing, and potentially connect with new partners from around the world.

U-INSPIRE India, Nepal, and Indonesia have become the first national chapters of an alliance of youth and young professionals to register their work in UNDRR's Sendai Framework Voluntary Commitments online platform.

Following Japan’s declaration in June that climate change is a “climate crisis,” Japan’s Minister of the Environment, Mr. Shinjiro Koizumi, and the Minister of State for Disaster Management, Mr. Ryota Takeda, announced a new joined-up approach to preventing disasters and building resilience.