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The United Nations has issued a Flash Appeal for Djibouti, asking $7.5 million to combat the severe food crisis threatening the country. The Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said today that immediate needs include food aid for 28,650 people and water for 18,000. The Government of Djibouti earlier requested international assistance. USD 50,000 for coordination activities, which will include local capacity building. The food crisis in three out of six rural zones is a consequence of three consecutive failed rainy seasons and worsening drought. Delayed rains and erratic rainfall have been insufficient to allow the replenishment of water catchments or the regeneration of pastures. Pastoralists from Djibouti and neighbouring areas in Somalia, Ethiopia and Eritrea have been forced to continue seasonal grazing in coastal Djibouti areas, which has exhausted most rural grazing areas. All water catchments in the north-west and south-east pastoral zones are practically dry. In the short and medium term, a second and more comprehensive, joint multi-sectoral assessment needs to be carried out, involving United Nations and international non-governmental organization partners, as well as technical ministries of the Government. An accurate survey to ascertain the numbers of livestock lost should also form a part of the assessment.

Full Document - Flash Appeal 2005 for Djibouti Drought

More information: GLIDE Number: DR-2005-000061-DJI // OCHA Situation Report No 1 // UNDP Djibouti Country Office // DRU & Djibouti

(Source AFP) - The week-long eruption of Mount Karthala on the main island in the Indian Ocean Comoros archipelago, is over, experts said Saturday, but they did not rule out the possibility of further eruptions. "The eruption of April 16 is over," Hamidou Nassor, a vulcanologist from the French Indian Ocean island of Reunion, told a press conference in Moroni. But "we do not totally exclude the possibility of an eruption in the coming weeks, months or year." He recommended maintaining for several more days the alert warning currently in place on the island of Grand Comore. Following the eruption which started last weekend, hundreds of villagers at the foot of the 2,361-meter (7,746-foot) volcano fled their homes for fear of molten lava -- although none actually flowed outside the crater. The volcano's last magma eruption was in 1977, when molten lava destroyed the village of Singani, some 20 kilometres (12 miles) south of Moroni and toxic gas was released into the air but caused no deaths.

OCHA Situation Report No 2 // UNOSAT Satellite Imagery

More information: GLIDE Number: VO-2005-000060-COM // OCHA Situation Report No 1 // UNDP Comoros Country Office // DRU & Comoros

On 31st March, a donor briefing was held in the Palais des Nations for the joint UNDP/ISDR/OCHA Goma Volcano Risk Reduction Project. It provided an overview of the project and funding priorities for the future to donor representatives from Switzerland, US, Germany, France, Denmark and Japan. Prior to the donor briefing, the project team held a one-day workshop to discuss achievements and reviewed the implementation strategy with the Goma-based project team, the Project Advisory Committee, the chairman of the Scientific & Technical Advisory Committee (STAC) as well as one STAC member.

UNDP/BCPR / ISDR / OCHA Goma Volcano Observatory Project

Project Profile: Inter-Agency Cooperation for Disaster Reduction in the Goma, North Kivu Area, DRC // Brochure: Inter-Agency Cooperation for Volcano Risk Reduction

More information: Goma (DRC) Case Study: Volcano Risk Reduction // ECHO/ISDR good practices for resilient communities

Samiyarpettai village is a “living” example of how a community can survive the worst disaster if people are prepared and trained to deal with such crises. Providentially, in October 2004, barely a couple of months before the Tsunami struck on December 26, the villagers had been trained under the UNDP-GOI Disaster Risk Management (DRM) Programme with active support from the District Collector’s office. This one factor alone resulted in the saving of countless lives. Compared to many other neighboring worst affected villages, Samiyarpettai villagers lived to tell the tale. The training given to the Samiyarpettai villagers specifically in the areas of search, rescue and prevention from drowning, resulted in keeping the death toll down to 24. In the adjoining village of Pudupettai , a little less than 2 km away, the death toll was as high as 92. If basic training could save 68 precious lives in one small area, one can imagine the benefits of training on a more extensive scale. (...)

Full story

More information: Reducing Risks From Tsunamis: Disaster and Development // Global report - Reducing Disaster Risk // Relief web coverage // UNDP India Country Office // DRU and India // More Situation Reports on India // Relief web coverage // UNOSAT Maps & Satellite Imagery on the Earthquakes & Tsunamis in Asia // OCHA Situation Reports

The Red Cross and Red Crescent Tsunami Response Forum met in Hong Kong from 3 to 5 March 2005 to review the disaster response operation to date and to map out future plans for rehabilitation and recovery. With over 140 senior-rank participants from IFRC, ICRC, UN and more than 40 National Societies present, the documents and presentations submitted to the Forum could be valuable reference materials and information for their on-going tsunami relief efforts. Mr Andrew Maskrey, Head of the UNDP/BCPR Disaster Reduction Unit presented the UNDP's efforts on the tsunami Relief and Recovery. Participants of the Forum expressed their sympathies to all those who had lost their loved ones and had suffered from the devastating tsunami. The Forum paid tribute to the dedication of the national societies and their volunteers on the ground who reacted within hours to help those affected, and paid special tribute to those who lost their lives in the tragedy. (...)

More information: The Hong Kong Declaration // Red Cross & Red Crescent Tsunami Response Forum Website // More information on UNDP work on the Tsunami and Earthquakes in South East Asia

The World Bank has published a report entitled, "Natural Disaster Hotspots: A Global Risk Analysis," that presents a global view of disaster risks associated with some major natural hazards -- drought, floods, cyclones, earthquakes, volcanoes and landslides. The report identifies high-risk geographic regions so that development efforts can be better informed and designed to reduce disaster-related losses in the future. The report was produced by researchers from Columbia University, the World Bank, the Norwegian Geotechnical Institute and other partners. It indicates that 3.4 billion people, more than half the world's population, live in areas where at least one hazard could significantly impact them. The report was a joint effort of the World Bank's HMU and the Earth Institute's CHRR, IRI, and the Center for International Earth Science Information Network (CIESIN). The core project team included researchers from the World Bank's Development Economics Research Group, and the International Center for Geohazards at the Norwegian Geotechnical Institute, in addition to the World Bank's HMU and the Earth Institute. The project also worked closely with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), which recently published the report "Reducing Disaster Risk: A Challenge for Development". Funding was provided by the United Kingdom's Department for International Development and the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs through the ProVention Consortium, as well as by the U.S. Agency for International Development. (...)

More information // "Natural Disaster Hotspots: A Global Risk Analysis"

More information: Reducing Disaster Risk: A Challenge for Development // The Earth institute at the Columbia University // Center for Hazards & Risk Research at Columbia University // The World Bank Hazard Management Unit // More UNDP Publications

Emergency Architects’, a French NGO constituted of Architects who have decided to join their experience, skills and know-how to bring assistance to people in difficulties in France and abroad, organized the International Conference – “State of Emergency: Another Idea of the World” at the head office of the UNESCO in Paris on Friday, April the 8th, 2005. The Conference was supported by the French Ministry of Culture and Communication, the French Ministry of Foreign affairs, the National Council of Architects, UNDP, UNESCO and the International Union of Architects, under the presidency of the French Senate. UNDP’s participant – Mr Hossein Sarem-Kalali, from the Disaster Reduction Unit of the Bureau for Crisis Prevention and Recovery highlighted the UNDP’s recent experiences on Post Disaster Recovery. (...)

Full Story // Post Disaster Recovery PowerPoint Presentation

More information: Emergency Architects website // UNDP and Recovery

The recent UNV/BCPR workshop on ‘South-South Cooperation for Disaster Risk Management’ (13th – 16th October, 2004) brought together over 50 UNVs, disaster management focal points from seven countries (Afghanistan, Bangladesh India, Iran, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka), BCPR and UNV Secretariat officers in Bhubaneshwar (Orissa State, India), to share their experiences on the role of UNVs within Disaster Risk Management in the region. Based primarily on India and Sri Lanka experience, the workshop reviewed the role of UNVs in disaster risk management and explored how it can be expanded throughout the region. The focus of the workshop and the follow up activities identified at the workshop has become even more pertinent in the wake of the recent tsunami in south East Asia. In a sense, the notion of regional cooperation using the UNV mechanism was tested in the aftermath of the tsunami. With the generous support of the Government of India and with technical support from BCPR the UN was able to immediately deploy UNVs from the Regional Disaster Risk Management programe to support information management and coordination in Indonesia, Maldives and Sri Lanka. There is potential to systematize such cooperation for not only post-disaster response but also for more proactive disaster risk reduction activities.

Full Report

More information: UNV/BCPR Workshop on ‘South-South Cooperation for Disaster Risk Management

On 22 Feb. 2005 at 05:55 local time (02:25 GMT) an earthquake measuring 6.4 on Richter scale stroke Zarand district in the Kerman province, central Iran. The epicenter was identified at 55 km NW of Kerman at 30.726 N, 56.817 E at a depth of 14Km. The earthquake lasted for 12 seconds and caused extensive damage to the rural areas in Ravar district, Kerman district and much more disastrous the Zarand district. As a consequence of this earthquake, more than 50 villages were destroyed between 30 to 100%. Until now 612 are dead and 1500 injured. The population adversely affected is around 32,000. Based on UN Disaster Management Plan to support the government of Iran, Disaster Management Team consisting of members from different UN agencies met on the same day and discussed the situation. On the subsequent meetings it was decided that a Field Assessment Team (FAT) consisting of members from UNDP, UNICEF, WFP, UNFPA and OCHA led by WHO should go to affected area to observe the situation and prepare a report based on its terms of reference. The team found extensive damage and loss of life in some villages. The search operations was over and the relief activities effectively running. The level of local and provincial response to the disaster was remarkable.(...)

Full Report

More information: UNDP Iran Country Office // DRU & Iran

More than a year after the devastating earthquake in Bam that claimed over 31,000 lives and left more than 75,000 homeless, the people of Bam are having a say in the reconstruction planning of their city. A UNDP-backed project for sustainable housing reconstruction programme in Bam through community mobilisation and participation is working to influence housing construction across the country by demonstrating a community-based, cost-effective and earthquake-resistant housing approach that could be cheaply and easily replicated in earthquake-prone areas in and outside of Bam district.(...)

Full story // UNDP’s activities in Bam

More information: UNDP Iran Country Office // DRU & Iran