THE INTERNATIONAL DAY FOR DISASTER REDUCTION
2016 Theme: Live To Tell: Raising Awareness, Reducing Mortality
The International Day for Disaster Reduction began in 1989, after a call by the United Nations General Assembly for a day to promote a global culture of risk-awareness and disaster reduction. Held every 13 October, the day celebrates how people and communities around the world are reducing their exposure to disasters and raising awareness about the importance of reining in the risks that they face.
The 2016 edition marks the launch of the new "Sendai Seven" campaign by UNISDR, centred on the seven targets of the Sendai Framework, the first of which is reducing disaster mortality. The campaign seeks to create a wave of awareness about actions taken to reduce mortality around the world. The Sendai Seven Campaign is an opportunity for all, including governments, local governments, community groups, civil society organizations, the private sector, international organizations and the UN family, to promote best practices at the international, regional and national level across all sectors, to reduce disaster risk and disaster losses.
We can replace material possessions, but we cannot replace people. We are repeatedly appalled at how many people die in disasters. The majority of victims are invariably the poor and vulnerable. Today, hundreds of millions of people live at risk from rising seas, earthquakes, drought, heat waves, floods and storms. They live on marginal lands, beneath unstable hillsides or on storm-exposed coastlines. This is why eradicating extreme poverty the Sustainable Development Goals, is essential to reducing disaster risk.
On this International Day for Disaster Reduction, I call on General Public anaging disasters to managing risk. Let us move from a culture of reaction to one of prevention and build resilience by reducing loss of life.