Defusing disaster – Reducing the risk: calamity is unnatural

The magnitude 8.4 earthquake off Sumatra’s south-western coast on September 12, 2007, provided a reminder that far greater investment must be made in the prevention of human suffering – minimizing the odds of natural hazards becoming disasters among the millions of people around the world who live in harm’s way. In 2004, the World Conference on Disaster Reduction in Kobe, Japan, determined that a substantial reduction of disaster losses – in terms of lives and in social, economic and environmental assets – was urgently needed, and the Hyogo Framework for Action, a global blueprint for disaster risk reduction efforts, was adopted. This document recalls the importance and effectiveness of disaster risk reduction programmes. Published in 2007.