GENEVA, 13 October 2017 - The United Nations today launched new guidelines to encourage more countries to undertake national disaster risk assessments and to link them closely with policy and investment processes in order to take better preventive action to reduce disaster deaths and the soaring numbers of people displaced every year by floods, storms, drought and earthquakes.

The Guidelines for National Disaster Risk Assessment are being launched today on International Day for Disaster Reduction which is celebrated worldwide on October 13 every year.

“Many disaster prone parts of the world are struggling to deal with the complex interplay of risk drivers including poverty, population growth, rampant urban growth, destruction of the environment and climate change. National disaster risk assessments are a vital part of any modern state’s economic planning and investment strategy,” said Mr. Robert Glasser, the UN Secretary-General’s Special Representative for Disaster Risk Reduction.

The newly published Guidelines for National Disaster Risk Assessment (NDRA) are the result of the collaboration between over 100 leading experts from national authorities, international organizations, non-governmental organizations, academia, research institutes and private-sector entities and are an important contribution to reducing the numbers of people affected by disasters which is the theme for this year’s International Day. 

They are a major contribution towards implementation of the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction, the global plan for reducing disaster losses adopted by UN Member States in March 2015, at the Third UN World Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction, in Sendai, Japan.