Still too vulnerable’
for Small Island Developing States(SIDS), saying it is a question of survival amid warming oceans, rising seas, and intensifying storms. Stressing the importance of international cooperation, Mr Guterres said “it is about ensuring fair and equitable access to vaccines for everyone, everywhere; dramatically increasing funding and support for climate change adaptation and resilience building; and delivering on the Sendai Framework.”
The framework was adopted in 2015, during the Third UN World Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction in Sendai, Japan, and outlines seven clear targets and four priorities for action, to prevent new and reduce existing disaster risks.
In 2021, the International Day focuses on “International cooperation for developing countries to reduce their disaster risk and disaster losses”, the sixth of the seven Sendai targets.
For the Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General for Disaster Risk Reduction, Mami Mizutori, “UN Member States were absolutely right to include international cooperation to developing countries as one of the seven targets.
“Only together can we make true progress towards a safer and more resilient planet,” she said.
The Director-General of the World Health Organisation (WHO) also marked the International Day, asking governments everywhere to learn the lessons of the COVID-19 crisis, and respond better to future disasters.
In a video message, Tedros Adhanom
Ghebreyesus said that “the pandemic has demonstrated how the consequences of health emergencies and disasters go far beyond the health sector and affect all segments of society.
“Often, the communities most affected by disasters are those less equipped to deal with them”, he argued.