Japan hosts meeting on disaster management (Third UN World Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction)

A United Nations conference was launched Saturday in Japan on a new framework for managing disaster risks which aims at reducing mortality and economic losses.

An estimated number of 8,000 participants, including an unprecedented number of high-level officials, took part in the Third UN World Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction in Sendai, from March 14 to 18.

U.N. secretary Ban Ki-moon said the conference aims at updating the landmark agreement reached a decade ago, known as the Hyogo Framework for Action, which detailed the work required from various sectors to reduce disaster losses can set a course to greater resilience to disasters.

Japan just marked the fourth anniversary days ago of the 2011 earthquake that left more than 18,000 people dead and triggered the continuing Fukushima nuclear crisis.
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 UN, 14 March 2015 – With global leaders gathered in Sendai, Japan, to agree a new framework for managing disaster risk which will reduce mortality and curb economic losses, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today declared that responding to the world's growing needs requires empowering individuals, supporting communities and backing promises with resources.

“True resilience comes from strong bonds among countries and communities. The UN is committed to strengthening these bonds with a unified Plan of Action,” said Mr. Ban in opening remarks to the Third World Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction.

He recalled that the meeting, which is expected to draw thousands of government and civil society participants, is opening just days after the solemn fourth anniversary of the devastating earthquake that struck the Sendai region, and as a powerful cyclone is bearing down on the tiny island nation of Vanuatu and its neighbors in the Pacific.

The aim of the Conference, which wraps up Wednesday, 18 March, is to update the landmark agreement reached a decade ago in Hyogo, Japan, which detailed the work required from all different sectors and actors to reduce disaster losses......................... http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=50324#.VQQNMI4YE9Q
14/3/15