UN disaster risk reduction conference key to future sustainable development agenda | Division for Inclusive Social Development (DISD)

Government and civil society leaders from around the world are gathering in the Japanese city of Sendai for a United Nations conference that will take stock of ten years of global work to better prepare for and curb the impact of disasters, and to agree on an updated global response framework. The Third World Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction takes place in the centre of the Tohoku region, which bore the brunt of the 2011 earthquake and tsunami that led to the Fukushima meltdown. It is an appropriate location to continue making the strides that began amid the devastation of the Indian Ocean tsunami in January 2005, which claimed 227,000 lives.

The aim is to update the landmark agreement reached a decade ago in Hyogo, also in Japan, which detailed the work required from all different sectors and actors to reduce disaster losses. The Hyogo Framework for Action (HFA) has produced some important successes, including the reduction in the number of people directly affected by natural disasters in Asia – where most such disasters occur – by almost one billion.

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