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As United Nations agencies move from emergency relief to reconstruction in Pakistani regions devastated by last October’s earthquake, they are preparing an action plan to prevent an aid gap in the remaining winter period and to improve sanitation to prevent disease in the spring.

“The Action Plan will not be an extra appeal,” UN Resident/Humanitarian Coordinator Jan Vandemoortele said, giving an overview of the achievements of the relief efforts and the challenges that lie ahead in relation to the transition from relief to recovery and reconstruction, and a voluntary and informed return for displaced families.

Full Story // UNDP Pakistan Country Office // UNDP Projects and other information // UN Emergency Response: Pakistan Earthquake 2005 // UN South Asia Earthquake Flash Appeal (updated) // DRU and Pakistan // UN Volunteers // Beyond Relief: Transition to Recovery and Reconstruction

Communities affected by the devastating Indian Ocean tsunami in 2004, which killed more than 220,000 people and displaced an estimated two million across South and Southeast Asia, should be given more say in the recovery effort, a senior United Nations official said today at the end of his 10-day assessment mission to the region.

The UN’s Deputy Special Envoy for Tsunami Recovery Eric Schwartz visited Indonesia, the country worst affected by the disaster, and India during his trip to assess the status of the tsunami recovery effort. Schwartz commented that while he was impressed with the progress achieved, there were still “some very real concerns” and much still to do.

Full Story // UNDP Tsunami Recovery Website // UNDP-DRU Tsunami website

As part of its efforts to deliver more effective transitional housing, UNDP and its partners have provided more than 4,000 transitional shelters to families living in the worst-hit northern areas.

The UNDP transitional shelter project is designed to deliver over 480,000 CGI sheets and supplies to more than 32,000 families in the high-attitude zones (over 5,000 feet).

Full Story // UNDP Pakistan Country Office // UNDP Projects and other information // UN Emergency Response: Pakistan Earthquake 2005 // UN South Asia Earthquake Flash Appeal (updated) // DRU and Pakistan // UN Volunteers

Le gouvernement haïtien et le Programme des Nations Unies pour le développement (PNUD) ont signé un programme évalué à US$1.15 million, pour une mise en oeuvre de la réduction des risques de désastres naturels auxquels fait face la population haïtienne.

Plusieurs actions sont visées dans le cadre de ce programme telles que la définition de politiques de prévention et la réponse aux désastres, la mise en place de systèmes d'alerte précoce, la formation, l'éducation et la sensibilisation des populations, le plaidoyer et la coordination des secours d'urgence.

Plus d'info // UNDP Haïti // DRU et Haiti

Guyana's capacity to prepare and respond to disaster will be bolstered by international funding under the US$2m United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Country Programme Action Plan 2006 - 2010.

The programme allocates funds for capacity building and disaster preparedness and response of the agency responsible, the Civil Defence Commission.

Full Story // UNDP Guyana // DRU and Guyana

Eighty five participants from around the world met for three days at a Future Search Conference, sponsored by UNDP, the UN Disaster Management Training Programme (UNDMTP) and the UN International Strategy for Disaster Risk Reduction (ISDR). The meeting was organized as a direct support to the implementation of the Hyogo Framework for Action (HFA), the outcome document from the World Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction, Kobe, Japan in January 2005. Two Future Search facilitators conducted the meeting.

The meeting provided the opportunity for a broad cross-section of stakeholders to come together to discuss for the first time what capacity and capacity development means and “how we do it in practice” for disaster risk reduction (DRR). Participants represented governments, international organizations, donors, regional organizations, capacity development practitioners, academics, communities at risk, NGOs and the media.

Full Story // Meeting Concept Paper // DRU and DMTP

An early tsunami warning system in the Indian Ocean is expected to be up and running by July, enabling 28 nations to share data on ocean movements. The system will record seismic waves, tsunami waveforms, variations of tide levels and other changes in the ocean, the Asahi Shimbun reported Monday.

Japanese and European meteorological satellites will cover observation spots where communication facilities have not been set up, the report said. The system aims to minimize damage in the event of powerful tidal wave like the quake triggered one off Sumatra in 2004 that killed more than 220,000 people. Each country will be responsible for relaying tsunami warnings to its citizens.

Masahiro Yamamoto, a senior consultant dispatched to the United Nations' Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission from the Japan Meteorological Agency, said cooperation would be essential for the system to be effective. "When the system becomes operational, it is crucial, more than anything else, to establish a trusting relationship with each country involved through practical training and other methods," he said.

UNDP Regional Centre in Bangkok // UNDP Tsunami Recovery Website // UNDP-DRU Tsunami website

Following the deadly landslide in the Philippines, where almost 1,400 people are still missing, the United Nations coordinating unit said today that a UN assessment team had now arrived in the country and the UN Development Programme (UNDP) had mobilized an additional $100,000 to help the victims.

The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said that the Philippine Government, which has welcomed international assistance after Friday’s disaster, had reported 81 fatalities and more than 400 people rescued following the landslide that engulfed the village of Guinsaugon.

Full Story // UNDP Philippines // DRU and Philippines

UNDP has distributed winter clothing to the children affected by the earthquake that massively devastated parts of Pakistan. The earthquake killed about 73,000, injured over 70,000 and left around 3 million people without shelter.

In support of UNDP's efforts to respond to the disaster, the United Nations Foundation for International Partnerships (UNFIP), in collaboration with Children's Place, a US-based clothing company and the United Nations Foundation, contributed winter clothing for over 4,000 children.

Full Story // UNDP Pakistan Country Office // UNDP Projects and other information // UN Emergency Response: Pakistan Earthquake 2005 // UN South Asia Earthquake Flash Appeal (updated) // DRU and Pakistan // UN Volunteers

A meeting of environmental experts has wrapped up in the Kyrgyz capital, Bishkek, as part of a regional project on environmental safety and emergency preparedness in Ferghana Valley.

"This project will help us reduce the risk of natural disasters and contribute to poverty reduction as well," Sheishenaly Usupbaev, a participant and head of the Kyrgyz emergency ministry's department on monitoring and forecast, said in Bishkek.

Full Story // UNDP Kyrgyzstan // UNDP Turkmenistan // UNDP Uzbekistan // DRU and Kyrgyzstan // DRU and Turkmenistan // DRU and Uzbekistan // Central Asia Human Development Report // DRU and Europe and the Commonwealth States

Drought conditions across the Horn of Africa are likely to persist until at least early April, threatening further loss of life and livestock, the World Meteorological Organisation (WMO) said on Tuesday.

The WMO, a United Nations agency, said it was reporting on the latest seasonal report from its partner, the Nairobi-based Intergovernmental Authority on Development, known as IGAD.

Full story

A regional DesInventar training workshop was held in Bangkok from 6-9 February 2006 to look at the historical patterns of natural disasters in tsunami-affected coastal areas.

The workshop was organized by the Regional Programme on Capacity Building for Sustainable Recovery and Risk Reduction in Tsunami Affected Countries and was attended by three participants from India, one from the Maldives, two from Sri Lanka, and one from Thailand. Two participants from East Timor were also present.

The workshop focused on how to utilize the DesInventar methodology, and how to install and configure its user-friendly software, as well as how to enter data on damage caused by natural disasters and then analyse it. Participants will now return to their UNDP Country Offices to begin the process of creating historical disaster databases for tsunami-affected regions.

Concept note // DesInventar factsheet // UNDP Regional Centre in Bangkok // UNDP Tsunami Recovery Website // UNDP-DRU Tsunami website

The students of a school on Kamala beach in southern Thailand, which was badly affected by the 26 December 2004 tsunami, recently took part in their first tsunami evacuation drill.

Students, teachers, the local community and the district administration organized a practice session in order to be better prepared for any future natural disasters.

The exercise was part of an “Early Warning and Preparedness” project, which is being run by the Asian Disaster Preparedness Center (ADPC) and supported by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). The wider aims of this project are to set up early warning systems and to help strengthen institutional disaster management and community preparedness plans.

Full Story // UNDP Thailand // UNDP Regional Centre in Bangkok // UNDP Tsunami Recovery Website // UNDP-DRU Tsunami website

The Pakistan Prime Minister officially launched the national United Nations Volunteer (UNV) scheme at a function held on 6 February 2006 in Islamabad.

Following last October's earthquake, thousands of volunteers from all over Pakistan and abroad came to help the affected communities. The national UNV scheme has therefore been launched by the Pakistan Government and the United Nations to build on this momentum.

“The Nation woke up to this natural catastrophe and for the first time we saw the country galvanized,” explained the Prime Minister.

Full Story // UNDP Pakistan Country Office // UNDP Projects and other information // UN Emergency Response: Pakistan Earthquake 2005 // UN South Asia Earthquake Flash Appeal (updated) // DRU and Pakistan // UN Volunteers