The UN General Assembly adopted the International Strategy for Disaster Reduction in December 1999 and established UNDRR, the secretariat to ensure its implementation. UNDRR, the UN office for disaster risk reduction, is also the focal point in the UN system for the coordination of disaster risk reduction and the implementation of the international blueprint for disaster risk reduction - the "Hyogo Framework for Action 2005-2015: Building the resilience of nations and communities to disasters".
The mandate of UNDRR expanded in 2001 to serve as the focal point in the United Nations system for the coordination of disaster reduction and to ensure synergies among the disaster reduction activities of the United Nations system and regional organizations and activities in socio-economic and humanitarian fields (GA resolution 56/195). This was in response to a need for mainstreaming disaster risk reduction within the development and other areas of work of the UN.
The "Hyogo Declaration" and the "Hyogo Framework for Action 2005-2015: Building the Resilience of Nations and Communities to Disasters" was adopted by the World Conference on Disaster Reduction, held in Kobe, Hyogo, Japan, in January 2005. The Hyogo Framework for Action (HFA) tasked UNDRR with supporting the implementation of the HFA.
