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Most of the ports on the north and west coast of Aceh were either badly damaged or were destroyed in the earthquake and tsunami of 26 December 2004 or in the earthquake of 28 March 2005. Ports are an essential facility that must be restored so that material can be imported for the reconstruction of the province and of Nias. It is estimated that over 30 million tonnes of material is needed over the next three to four years for the reconstruction; some of the material can be sourced locally and some can be brought in by road, but the vast majority has to be brought into the province and then distributed to the various townships along the coast by sea.

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The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) today signed an agreement with the Asian Disaster Preparedness Center (ADPC) to support the Royal Thai Government’s Department of Disaster Prevention and Mitigation (DDPM) in implementing a community-based, multi-hazard early warning and disaster preparedness system in Thailand.

The End-to-End Early Warning System and Preparedness for Tsunami and other Natural Hazards in Southern Thailand project seeks to develop an overall culture of safety that starts with a tsunami early-warning system and ends with a heightened awareness of disaster planning and mitigation at all levels of Thai society.

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Kenya, like several other countries in the Horn of Africa region, is frequently affected by drought, and populations in the country's arid and semi-arid areas bear the brunt of food insecurity, water shortages and livestock loss.

Drought is a recurrent natural disaster whose humanitarian impact is no less devastating than other, more sudden disasters like floods or earthquakes. But because drought is more of a process than an event – with a subtle beginning and a severity that builds gradually over time – it is often overlooked as a disaster.

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Pushing ahead with Secretary-General Kofi Annan’s call for global early-warning systems covering all countries and all hazards, the United Nations today announced the convening of a new conference next year to reinforce lessons learned from last December Indian Ocean tsunami with fresh initiatives in high priority countries.

“Early-warning and preparedness are the critical elements in preventing natural hazards from turning into disasters,” Sálvano Briceño, Director of the secretariat of the International Strategy for Disaster Reduction (ISDR) said of the 3rd International Early Warning Conference (EWCIII) to be convened by the Government of Germany under UN auspices in Bonn from 27 to 29 March.

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The United Nations General Assembly has endorsed a declaration made by Small Island Developing States (SIDS) requesting expanded trade opportunities, assistance in coping with sea-level rise and other adverse consequences of climate change, and renewable energy and cleaner fossil fuel technologies.

Adopting without a vote a resolution introduced by Jamaica yesterday on behalf of the 132-member “Group of 77” developing countries and China, the Assembly called for timely actions to implement the Mauritius Declaration and Strategy for implementation adopted at the SIDS international meeting from 10 to 14 January.

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From enlisting the help of nuclear test ban experts to cooperating in newly launched disaster warning initiatives, the United Nations weather agency is embarking on an ambitious programme to upgrade its services with a particular focus on helping the world's least developed countries.

At its annual session which ended earlier this month, the Executive Council of the UN World Meteorological Organization (WMO) agreed on institutional and substantive actions aimed at increasing its "responsiveness to societal needs" through enhanced applications of forecasts and science in the areas of weather, climate and water.

The Council called on the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty Organization (CTBTO) to make its environmental observations available to support early warnings of selected natural disasters, such as volcanic eruptions, earthquakes and tsunamis.

It also called for WMO's close cooperation with other international organizations in the implementation of international strategies and Plans of Action, such as the Hyogo Declaration for natural disaster reduction.

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Barely ten months after Hurricane Ivan swept away 80 per cent of Grenada’s infrastructure and destroyed 90 percent of the nation’s 28,000 homes, Grenada was hit this week by Hurricane Emily — a category 1 storm, which hit the country on 13 July. Over 50 percent of houses damaged by Ivan were still awaiting repair, and technical capacity even before this new hurricane struck was modest in most sectors.

UNDP’s Grenada-based team of disaster mitigation and reconstruction experts has concluded its initial damage assessment visit to a number of areas including the parish of St. George, St. John’s, St. Mark’s and the two northern parishes of St. Patrick’s and St. Andrew’s.

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The Economic and Social Council began the humanitarian affairs segment of its 2005 substantive session with a special panel exchange on the transition from relief to development, followed by a consideration of special economic, humanitarian and disaster relief assistance. On 13 July 2005 the transition from relief to development was examined in two contexts, first through a session on post-conflict situations and then one on disaster recovery activities.

In the second session, UNDP Assistant Administrator and Director Kathleen Cravero described how disasters were exacerbated by development problems and how the true breadth of a disaster's impact was often masked in the flurry of activity surrounding the emergency period, which was a kind of equalizer.

“Afterwards long-term recovery must be seen as a development challenge to reduce the risk of recurrence. Settlements and services must be improved in a process that was very delicate and must be nationally owned,” explained Ms. Cravero.

“…the UN country system must realize that recovery was a long-term process. Roles and responsibilities must be clear, and respective resident coordinators must have the technical abilities needed to support the government in the recovery process. Training must not only be provided for local capacity-building, but also to UN staff to provide that support.”

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More information: DRU Post Disaster Recovery

With Hurricane Dennis standing as a clear and present warning after its rampage through the Caribbean and south-east United States this weekend, a United Nations disaster expert today called on world governments to implement strategies drawn up at an international conference earlier this year to reduce the impact of natural calamities.

Sálvano Briceño, Director of the secretariat of the UN International Strategy for Disaster Reduction (ISDR), welcomed the fact that the final communiqué of last week's G8 Summit of industrialized nations spoke of the need to reinforce such measures, noting that it was the first time that the G8 had mentioned the issue.

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