Tsunami survivor and campaigner, Petra Nemcova, speaking to the Multi-Hazard Early Warning Conference

CANCUN, 23 May, 2017 - A major global initiative to improve the generation and use of early warnings against extreme weather, earthquakes and a cascading range of hazards has been launched with a powerful plea from a tsunami survivor to build more resilient societies.

Petra Nemcova, a model, lost her partner in the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami and survived with serious injuries by holding on to a tree for 8 hours, recalled the agony of hearing children cry for help and then fall silent as they were swept away by the waters. Her Happy Hearts Foundation has since opened 162 schools in 10 countries to help children who lost families and homes to disasters.

“It took two hours for the waves generated by the earthquake to hit shores of Thailand. In those two hours many lives of children and babies could have been saved,” Ms Nemcova told the Multi-Hazard Early Warning Conference.

“Natural disasters can happen anywhere. The difference between 2004 and today is mobile phone technology,” said Ms Nemcova. She appealed for concerted action to ensure the benefits of technological and communications advances reach every country, region and community.

"The Multi-Hazard Early Warning Conference: saving lives, reducing losses", aims to do just that. It will agree an action plan for an integrated people-centred approach which unites meteorological, hydrological, marine, geophysical, disaster and health services, the IT and communications sector and other major players including – most importantly – grassroots organizations and local communities.

The conference is hosted by the government of Mexico and is spearheaded by the World Meteorological Organization and the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNISDR), in conjunction with a wide array of partners including the World Bank. It takes place 22-23 May and feeds into the 2017 Global Platform for Disaster Risk Reduction taking place in Cancun from 24-26 May.

Cancun is just 3 meters above sea level and only 400 meters away from the sea and so exposed to the impacts of climate change, more extreme weather and rising sea levels, according to Director of Mexico’s National Prevention Centre, Carlos Miguel Valdes Gonzalez.