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El Presidente de Bolivia, Evo Morales Ayma, realizó el día de hoy un llamado a la comunidad internacional y nacional para apoyar el Programa de Recuperación y Transición al Desarrollo de las zonas afectadas por las recientes inundaciones y granizadas, por un monto de $US 199,494,079.47.

Este llamado señala la transición de la etapa de ayuda humanitaria de emergencia a la etapa de rehabilitación, y ha sido elaborado por el Consejo Nacional de Reducción de Riesgos y Atención de desastres y/o emergencias (CONARADE) con la colaboración técnica del Sistema de las Naciones Unidas (UNODC, OMS/OPS, PNUD, PMA, UNFPA y UNICEF) y distintas organizaciones no gubernamentales especializadas.

Nota de prensa // UNDP Bolivia Country office // UN Bolivia site // DRU and Bolivia

Hosted by UNDP’s Regional Programme for Capacity Building and Sustainable Recovery following the Tsunami, this workshop will bring together 30 international experts in Bangkok to will discuss how to improve the compilation of reliable data on disaster occurrence and impact.

The purpose of the workshop is to compile and synthesize recent experiences, particularly within Asia, in the development, enhancement and maintenance of historical databases on disaster losses. Participants will include representatives from countries involved in disaster database development and international experts from UNDP, the ProVention Consortium and CRED (the Centre for Research on Epidemiology of Disasters).

The workshop is an important step in the preparation of a Global Risk Identification Program (GRIP). The preparatory phase of the GRIP is being implemented by UNDP and the ProVention Consortium with funding from the Swiss Agency for Development Cooperation. The workshop also contributes to the goals of the UNDP regional tsunami recovery project.

Agenda // ProVention // CRED // UNDP Regional Centre in Bangkok

BCPR, together with the Regional Bureau for Latin America and the Caribbean, is organizing a regional crisis prevention and recovery (CPR) workshop in Bogotá, Colombia, from 27-30 March 2006, focusing on conflict prevention and natural disaster risk management.

The aim of the meeting is to further advance and develop the practice area, to mainstream and share CPR knowledge throughout UNDP, and to build capacities at both country office and headquarters levels.

The workshop will bring together UNDP staff from most countries in the region to strengthen regional interaction and exchange, to build a critical mass of CPR capacity and to discuss ways to better respond to the CPR-related challenges.

Concept note // Agenda // Participant List

The December 2004 tsunami and other recent natural disasters in Asia highlighted the need to create a surge capacity programme for early recovery which would include the rapid deployment of personnel, and their training.

The Regional Programme for Capacity Building is hosting a planning meeting on 30-31 March as part of its overall objective to help increase the capacity of countries affected by the Indian Ocean tsunami to undertake post-disaster recovery, and to help mitigate the risk that would ensue from any future natural disaster events.

The two day planning meeting will focus on planning the first steps for a programme for surge capacity for early recovery. UNDP recovery specialists from country offices throughout the region will be joined by experts from the Bureau for Crisis Prevention and Recovery.

The purpose of the meeting is to examine existing concepts of surge capacity in the context of recent disaster recovery processes in Asia; to map existing and needed recovery capacities in light of possible future disaster scenarios; and to plan the first steps in developing a group of trained recovery specialists available to provide surge capacity to the UN system.

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

The United Nations has allocated two cash grants totalling $80,000 for emergency relief in Ecuador, where heavy rains since early February have provoked flooding and landslides in 35 cantons in the western provinces of El Oro, Esmeraldas, Guayas, Los Rios and Manabi.

Overall, an estimated 17,000 families have been directly or indirectly affected by the flooding, with some 5000 families now classed as highly vulnerable due to the loss of most of their assets. According to national authorities, the flooding has taken nine lives and destroyed the homes of 474 families.

Full Story // UNDP Ecuador Country Office // UN Ecuador

The United Nations, under the aegis of the CILSS (Comité Permanent Inter-Etats de Lutte contre la Sécheresse dans le Sahel) is holding the second regional consultative meeting on food security in the Sahel on 15 and 16 March in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso.

The meeting will elaborate an action plan for the Sahel that aims to reinforce state capacities in fighting food insecurity. The plan will also tackle structural causes of food and nutritional crises that regularly occur in Sahelian countries.

Full Story // DRU and Africa // OCHA Regional Office for West Africa

Five months after Pakistan was devastated by an earthquake which killed more than 73,000 people, injured nearly 70,000 and left millions homeless, the emergency aid phase is nearing its end and the United Nations is set to formally launch a year-long recovery and reconstruction stage, humanitarian officials said today.

Plans are underway with UN Special Envoy for the South Asian Earthquake Disaster, former United States President George H. W. Bush, for a high level launch of ‘The Action Plan from Relief to Recovery’ in New York, which will also be locally launched at field hubs in Pakistan.

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

Kenya has suffered poor rains every year but one since 1999, and twice in the last two years President Mwai Kibaki has declared a "national disaster" as he appealed for international assistance to help millions of his countrymen.

Each time the same issues are raised: what is being done to address the underlying causes of the food insecurity and why should a country like Kenya not be able to feed its people?

Full story

This year's hurricane season could match the record breaking destruction caused by storms in 2005, the United Nations warned.

In 2005, an unprecedented 27 tropical storms, 15 of which became full-blown hurricanes, battered Central America and the U.S. Gulf coast, killing more than 3,000 people and causing tens of billions of dollars in damage.

Full story

Work to remove rubble from public buildings devastated by the 8 October 2005 earthquake is continuing, with priority given to schools and hospitals.

UNOPS is implementing the recovery project initiated by UNDP in partnership with the Pakistani government and the army in three earthquake-affected districts.The construction of new buildings is expected to start soon so that children and the general public can resume classes and gain access to medical care.

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