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A disaster risk reduction workshop entitled “Seminar Workshop for National Authorities: Risk Management Policies, Systems and Experiences in the Caribbean” was held in Havana, Cuba from 1-3 June, 2005 as a regional effort to implement the Hyogo Framework of Action adopted at this year’s World Conference on Disaster Reduction. Participants included members of the Association of Caribbean States, and representatives from the United Nations system, the Red Cross and the Caribbean Disaster Emergency Response Agency (CDERA).

The meeting focused on developing risk and disaster management training, and improving cooperation and links between the different countries and institutions of the region in order to help reduce the impact of natural hazards. In preparation for the 2005 Caribbean hurricane season, discussions also centered on better integration of international disaster responses and preparedness coordination at both national and regional levels. The workshop concluded with the drafting of “The Havana Consensus”, a declaration which outlines common agreement on the main disaster risk reduction issues affecting the region.

Full story // The Havana Consensus Declaration

More information: Caribbean Disaster Emergency Response Agency (CDERA) // DRU and CDERA // DRU and Latin America and the Caribean Region // UNDP Cuba Country Office

While continued humanitarian assistance will be required over the coming months in the countries most affected by the tsunami, the transition from relief to recovery and reconstruction has already begun. A joint OCHA/UNDGO/UNDP assessment mission to Sri Lanka, the Maldives and Indonesia, bringing together humanitarian and development actors, took place from 30 May to 8 June 2005 to identify gaps, priorities and to clarify respective coordination roles.

Joint Assessment Report (30.05.2005-08.06.05)

The 2004 hurricane season proved to be one of the worst in recent Caribbean history. The effects of such disasters, particularly in small island developing countries, are of growing concern. In order to strengthen the UN’s capacity in the region to tackle these kind of problems the Disaster Management Training Programme (DMTP), in collaboration with the UNDP Regional Bureau for Latin America and the Caribbean (RBLAC), the Bureau for Crisis Prevention and Recovery (BCPR) and the Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), organised a regional disaster risk reduction workshop in Jamaica from 14-16 June for UN Resident Coordinators, UNDP Resident Representatives, Deputy Resident Representatives, heads of UN agencies and disaster management experts.

The three-day session was designed to improve understanding of the disaster risk reduction and recovery concepts, and to identify and share ways of furthering UNDP’s strategic role in disaster risk reduction. Joint commitments were made to better integrate disaster risk reduction into UNDP programmatic elements and to help promote action. And as a follow-up, key disaster risk reduction steps were identified for this year, in particular with respect to the 2005 hurricane season, as well as other longer term measures.

Jamaica workshop report

Annex 1 - Group work

Annex 2 - Preparedness & response

Annex 3 - Recovery Lessons Learnt

Annex 4 - Action Plans

Annex 5- List of participants

Annex 6- Powerpoint Prestations (Zip File)

More information: DRU and Latin America and the Caribean Region

How can we develop a common set of targets for disaster reduction capacity building towards which different actors can together work towards? Such was the main question discussed during a meeting held on 20-21 June in Geneva, hosted by the UN Disaster Management Training Programme (UNDMTP) in collaboration with the Bureau for Crisis Prevention and Recovery (BCPR), the UN System Staff College (UNSSC) and the International Secretariat for Disaster Reduction (ISDR), and attended by over 20 academics, training/capacity-building practitioners, technical/research personnel from international organizations, NGOs, UN agencies and donors.

The meeting was a first opportunity to convene a broad group of stakeholders working in various areas in disaster risk reduction to discuss their respective areas of work and to discuss the role of capacity building. Capacity building is a cross-cutting activity for disaster risk reduction, as highlighted in the Hyogo Framework for Action, which defines the strategic disaster risk reduction goals and priorities for the next decade.

Meeting Report // Participants List

More information: Disaster Management Training Programme (DMTP)

A senior United Nations official today reported rapid progress on setting up a tsunami early warning system for the Indian Ocean which, had it existed at the time of last December's disaster, might have saved tens of thousands of the more than 200,000 lives lost to the giant waves that overwhelmed a dozen countries.

"If another tsunami would happen today in the region, people will be safer and will have a better chance to save their lives," the Director of the secretariat of the UN International Strategy for Disaster Reduction (ISDR), Sálvano Briceño, told the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization/Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (UNESCO/IOC) Assembly in Paris.

More information: Full report

Six months after the tsunami ripped through communities across the Indian Ocean last December, the development agencies most involved in the recovery effort said the toughest challenges still lie ahead - including the complex issues of where to re-establish housing, how to quickly restore livelihoods, and what to prioritize now that the immediate relief phase is over.

Speaking on behalf of the UN agencies involved in ongoing recovery efforts, Special UN Envoy former U.S. President Bill Clinton said that while the immediate relief effort had been extraordinary the magnitude of the job ahead remained daunting.

More information: Full report

A United Nations commission today formally launched a tsunami early warning system for the Indian Ocean and laid the groundwork for similar initiatives around the world’s seas, haunted by the realization that such an operation could have saved tens of thousands of lives lost in last December’s disaster in South Asia.

The Indian Ocean Tsunami Warning and Mitigation System (IOTWS) formally came into existence at the 23rd Assembly of the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization/Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (UNESCO/IOC) in Paris with the establishment of an Intergovernmental Coordination Group (ICG) to govern it.

More information: Full report