"It was a Close Protection Officer...who heard me. Had I not decided to knock exactly at that point in time, they would have repaired the backhoe [and] started to dig. They would鈥檝e destabilised the area over which I was lying and I would not be sitting here today."
Disaster Relief
Juana plays outside at a shelter in Campur in Alta Verapaz, Guatemala. Juana is one of more than 900,000 children in Guatemala affected by the two hurricanes, which struck in quick succession and left landslides and massive flooding across the region. has been working with the government, which has been developing a strategy for the opening of safe spaces鈥攁 challenge complicated by the ongoing risk of COVID-19. The strategy includes training volunteers on 鈥楻eturn to Joy鈥, a play-based approach culturally adapted to each community that uses child-to-child techniques to help children cope with upheaval.
Four years ago, the village of Duduwa, in the district of Banke in the south of Nepal, was hit by heavy monsoon rains. Crops were destroyed. Food insecurity in one of the world鈥檚 poorest countries got worse. Last July, distributed cash to 2,700 people in the flood-prone Banke and Bardiya districts, targeting families headed by disabled people, older people, and women. In this , they share their stories of loss and devastation. The Sunars lost cherished family photographs in the floods. WFP-distributed cash support provides vulnerable communities with the means to secure essential items in anticipation of floods.
Children living in the affected areas, particularly those who have been displaced, could soon be at risk of contracting waterborne diseases like cholera and diarrheal infections. The powerful storm, which made landfall on 23 January, brought with it torrential rain and strong winds of up to 160 kilometers per hour, leaving a swath of damaged and destroyed houses, farmland and vital infrastructure in its wake. UNICEF鈥檚 emergency teams deployed to Beira before Cyclone Eloise hit and are currently helping to assess the damage to ensure a swift and effective relief operation.
Nosiba Khatun sits amongst the ashes of what used to be her home, her only possession now is the food assistance she just received from . 500 shelters were destroyed in the fire. Within just hours of fire breaking out, WFP sprung into action. It has provided around 3,500 people from the camps, and the wider community, with more than 21,000 hot meals. Nosiba is one of 22,500 Rohingya refugees who live in the Nayapara Registered Refugee Camp in Cox's Bazar, which is . She and her family have been living here since the 1990s when one of the first groups of Rohingya fled violence in Myanmar and sought safety in neighbouring Bangladesh.
The UNESCO World Heritage site of Saint-Louis is fighting a problem that is all too common to coastal cities 鈥 erosion caused by rising seas. As part of the Saint-Louis Emergency Recovery and Resilience Project, is implementing the Relocation of the Displaced Populations of the Langue de Barbarie Project. As part of the project, more than 400 shelters will be built. These will provide housing to more than 1,400 people and serve as a temporary school and be used for offices.
Nicaragua: 鈥業t鈥檚 scary to listen to the sounds of nature鈥
Women and girls in Honduras are at high risk in the aftermath of Hurricane Eta. More than 400,000 women have been directly affected by the widespread destruction and are now left without access to essential health services. More than 1.6 million people throughout the country have been affected. Some 12,000 are now staying in shelters, a precarious situation due to the COVID-19 pandemic. UNFPA is supporting a rapid needs assessment and working to restore access to sexual and reproductive health services.
Typhoon Goni left several towns inaccessible and destroyed thousands of homes in the Philippines. WFP is working with 缅北禁地sister agencies to gauge the food, shelter, electricity and emergency telecommunication requirements of survivors.
In 2020, World Tsunami Awareness Day (5 Nov) encourages the development of national and community-level, local disaster risk reduction strategies to save more lives against disasters. By the year 2030, about half of the world's population will live in coastal areas exposed to flooding, storms and tsunamis. Having plans and policies in place to reduce tsunami impacts will help to build more resilience and protect populations at risk. The 缅北禁地works with partners to educate the public, organize drills, and create evacuation routes to avoid heavy loss of life when the next tsunami comes.
A 缅北禁地report published to mark the International Day for Disaster Risk Reduction on October 13, confirms how extreme weather events have come to dominate the disaster landscape in the 21st century. The report 鈥溾 registers a sharp increase of extreme weather events over the previous twenty years, with much of the difference explained by a rise in climate-related disasters. Globally, there were around 6,700 climate-related disasters including severe floods and storms in the time-period 2000-2019 compared to 3,600 climate-related disasters compared to the time-frame 1980-1999.
Reducing climate change effects and risks in Bosnia and Herzegovina
This year鈥檚 International Day for Disaster Risk Reduction is all about governance. You can measure good disaster risk governance in lives saved, reduced numbers of disaster-affected people and reduced economic losses. COVID-19 and the climate emergency are telling us that we need clear vision, plans and competent, empowered institutions acting on scientific evidence for the public good. Good national and local strategies for disaster risk reduction must be multi-sectoral. It鈥檚 time to raise our game if we want to leave a more resilient planet to future generations.
Every two years, the (UNDRR) works with thinkers, practitioners, experts and innovators to investigate the state of risk across the globe: highlighting what鈥檚 new, spotting emerging trends, revealing disturbing patterns, examining behaviour, and presenting progress in reducing risk. The findings make up the .
Cities are the front lines in dealing with disasters and are a major emphasis of the . They are particularly vulnerable to increasingly frequent and extreme weather hazards, such as storms, climate change impacts, including water shortages, environmental degradation and unsafe construction in seismic zones. the Ten Essentials for Making Cities Resilient.