Undoubtedly, the year 2020 will be remembered as the year when COVID-19 began to impact societies worldwide as a truly trans-boundary health hazard, manifesting the vulnerability of people in developed and in developing countries alike. The news about the COVID-19 pandemic blurred news related to other disasters triggered by natural, technological and biological hazards. One of those was the very large locust outbreak that began in the Horn of Africa late in 2019, and later migrated through the Middle East to Southern Asia.
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English
Humans experience a wide array of disasters that generally fall into two categories: natural disasterssuch as hurricanes, earthquakes, tsunamis, volcanic eruptions, etc., and unnatural, or man-made, disasters such as wars, explosions, wildfires, chemical spills, etc. Such disasters wreak havoc and provoke extensive and large-scale devastation, and carry extremely serious financial repercussions for nations, organizations, and individuals.
A new publication presents 30 innovation products and approaches for disaster risk reduction, ranging from GIS and remote sensing to community-based disaster risk reduction and indigenous DRR technology. “30 Innovations for DRR” has been published by a group of experts from Keio University, the University of Tokyo, the United Nations University, CWS Japan and IRIDeS of Tohoku University.
A new United Nations report calls for urgent action on disaster risk reduction to protect progress towards eradication of poverty and hunger, and action on climate change. The achievement of these and other Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) could be slowed down or even reversed if governments do not adopt appropriate strategies, the Global Assessment Report on Disaster Risk Reduction 2019 (GAR19) warns.
The United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNISDR) and the Centre for Research on the Epidemiology of Disasters (CRED) have released a new report that highlights the global trends in disaster losses in the period between 1998 and 2017.
China has established an emergency mechanism using its meteorological satellites to help countries involved in the Belt and Road Initiative to combat extreme weather and disasters, the China Meteorological Administration (CMA) announced on 2 May.
The NASA Disasters Program promotes the use of Earth observations to improve the prediction of, preparation for, response to, and recovery from natural and technological disasters. By sponsoring application science, the Program advances the readiness of results to enable disaster management practices, advance damage reduction, and build resilience. The Program targets a spectrum of disasters, including floods, earthquakes, volcanoes, and landslides as well as combined hazards and cascading impacts.
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Undefined
Background:
Over 80% of economic disaster losses are attributed to weather-related events. Given that climate change is likely affecting the frequency and intensity of such events there is a need to improve the knowledge, understanding and data on climate impacts for establishing an appropriate disaster risk management as part of climate change adaptation.
This year’s Asia Pacific Disaster Report 2015 – 'Disasters without borders: regional resilience for sustainable development', released by the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP), provides an overview of disaster-risk resilience in the Asia-Pacific region. Furthermore, the report introduces new emerging risks for the region and its different sectors.
On 14 October at the World Humanitarian Summit Global Consultation in Geneva, the satellite operators Eutelsat, Hispasat, Inmarsat, Intelsat, SES, Thuraya and Yahsat signed the Crisis Connectivity Charter in partnership with the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) and the Emergency Telecommunications Cluster (ETC).
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