International Strategy
for Disaster Reduction
History
of Agency in the World and Iran
The
United Nations International Strategy for Disaster Reduction (UNISDR) is the
focal point in the UN system aimed at building disaster resilient communities
by promoting increased awareness of the importance of disaster reduction as an
integral component of sustainable development. Its goal is to reduce human,
social, economic and environmental losses due to natural hazards and related
technological and environmental disasters. UNISDR is an international data
center that collects information on disaster reduction, develops campaigns on
raising public awareness and publishes articles, booklets and other materials
on disaster risk reduction. UNISDR Secretariat is based in Geneva.
UNISDR
Liaison Office for the Economic Cooperation Organization (ECO) region was
established in February 2007 in Tehran and works to facilitate the promotion of
disaster risk reduction and support the implementation of Hyogo Framework for
Action among ECO region countries to strengthen coordination both at the
regional and national levels.
Priorities
Globally and in Iran
Support
the implementation of Hyogo Framework for Action (HFA) and promotion of
disaster risk reduction for the period of 2005-2015. HFA was approved and
adopted in 2005 in Kobe (Japan) by 168 states. Its main goal is "Building
the resilience of nations and communities to disasters". Participants of
the Second World Conference on Disaster Reduction reached the unanimous opinion
that disaster risk reduction is the most effective approach to resolving
disaster-related problems.
Seismic
Safety: Within the framework of this component, a regional center on seismic
risk reduction called the “Asian Seismic Risk Reduction Center” was launched in
Tehran on 9th May 2007. A conference on “Seismic Risk Reduction for Urban
Areas” was also held on July 19-20, 2007, by ISDR office in Tajikistan in which
leading seismologists and other scientists of Tajikistan and other Central
Asian states participated.
Knowledge
network: It is aimed at the reactivation of old and the establishment of new
linkages in the sphere of disaster risk reduction, in particular SRR (Seismic
Risk Reduction) between scientific institutions, institutes of the Academy of
Sciences and universities. A number of conferences and training workshops are
under consideration on this issue.
Education
and Advocacy: Integrating disaster risk reduction in schools and universities
curricula. UNISDR considers the support of national governments in the
implementation of national strategies for disaster reduction to be one of their
primary tasks and is ready to assist in the organization of forums, conferences
and other activities aimed at the achievement of this goal.
Main
projects/activities in Iran
After
numerous efforts by the Working Group for the Establishment of the Asian
Seismic Risk Reduction Center (ASRC), several documents including the plan for
the Center, concept note, and MOU were developed. Mr. Salvano
Briceno, the Director of UNISDR visited Iran in May
2007 and signed a joint Memorandum of Understanding with Mr. Mehdi Hashemi, Deputy Interior
Minister of Iran. The Center was launched on the same day. Since then, UNISDR
has cooperated with the Iranian authorities to develop a partnership between
ASRC, ECO and other institutions.
In
May 2007, a MOU was signed between UNISDR and ECO secretariat. The main
objective of this MOU was promoting disaster risk reduction within the ECO
region. UNISDR and ECO are jointly developing a partnership for promotion of
disaster risk reduction in this region. Among the activities, the global
campaign on hospital safety was launched in the ECO region on 29 January 2008
and the ISDR-ECO workshop on Global Assessment Report on Disaster Risk
Reduction was held in 1-2 July 2008.
UNISDR also supports the Iranian government on the
promotion of disaster risk reduction at the national level, including through
supporting the Iranian National Platform on Disaster Risk Reduction (INPDRR).
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Address: United Nations
Building No. 8, Shahrzad Blvd., Darrous,
Tehran, Iran, P.O. Box 5875/4557 Tel: (98-21) 2286
4916/2286 0691-4 E-mail: tehran@unisdr-wana.org Facsimile: (98-21) 2286
6983
website: www.unisdr-wana.org |