Urban flooding is a serious and growing development challenge for fast growing low and middle-income countries in East Asia, underscoring an urgent need to build flood risk management into regular planning of cities and towns, says a new World Bank guidebook released today.
Titled “Cities and Flooding: A Guide to Integrated Urban Flood Risk Management for the 21st Century”, the book provides operational guidance on how to manage the risk of floods in the face of urbanization, growing populations and long-term climate change trends.
“Urban expansion often creates poorer neighborhoods which lack adequate infrastructure and services, making them more vulnerable to floods. The poor are hit hardest, especially women and children,” said Pamela Cox, World Bank Vice President, East Asia and Pacific Region.“But rapid urbanization also means we have the opportunity to do things right the first time, so cities and towns can support sustainable development, saving lives and money.”
Floods are the most frequent among all natural disasters, and the East Asia and Pacific region, along with South Asia, is particularly vulnerable. In the past 30 years, the number of floods in Asia amounted to about 40 percent of the total worldwide. More than 90 percent of the global population exposed to floods lives in Asia.
Read in detail at :- http://cdrn.org.in/show.detail.asp?id=23239
Showing posts with label flood relief NGO india. Show all posts
Showing posts with label flood relief NGO india. Show all posts
Wednesday, February 15, 2012
Monday, November 28, 2011
ID Entification of Seismic-Zones
ID Entification of Seismic-Zones
Bureau of Indian Standards [IS-1893 (Part-1): 2002] has grouped the country into four seismic zones viz. Zone-II, III, IV and V of these, Zone V is the most seismically active region, while zone II is the least. As per this zoning, the entire Delhi region falls in seismic zone IV and as per this classification, the Delhi region is classified as “Severe intensity zone” and is broadly considered to be associated with maximum earthquake effects, as per intensity VIII on Modified Mercalli Intensity (MMI) scale as detailed below:
“Damage slight in specially designed structures; considerable in ordinary but substantial buildings with partial collapse; very heavy in poorly built structures; panel walls thrown out of framed structures; falling of chimney, factory stacks, columns, monuments, and walls; heavy furniture overturned, sand and mud ejected in small amounts; changes in well water; and disturbs persons driving motor cars.”
Guidelines have also been published by the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS), Building Materials & Technology Promotion Council (BMTPC), Housing and Urban Development Corporation (HUDCO) and National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) for the design and construction of earthquake resistant structures to minimize the loss of life and damage to property caused by earthquakes. The Government has completed the 1st level seismic microzonation study of NCT of Delhi on 1:50000 scale. The seismic microzonation maps are useful in land use planning, formulation of site specific design and construction criteria for the buildings and structures, towards minimizing the damage to property and loss of life caused by earthquakes. The Government has implemented various programmes to educate and raise awareness amongst school children and general public on various aspects of earthquakes, their impacts and measures to mitigate losses.
Read in detail at :- http://www.cdrn.org.in/show.detail.asp?id=22870
Friday, July 29, 2011
Floods cause havoc in Manipur
Floods cause havoc in Manipur
By ANI | ANI – 3 hours agoImphal, July 29 (ANI): Due to incessant rains in Manipur, water is flowing above the danger level in most rivers and some parts of the state are flooded.
Rising waters of Lilong, Nambul, Waisel Maril, Chakpi and Thoubal River crossed the embankment and flooded some parts of the Imphal city.
Flood waters have not only made commuting difficult but have also entered people's homes in areas like Uripok, Lamphelpat, Lamsang, Nambol and Langol Grace Colony. ast tracts of agricultural land have also been submerged in the floods. Thousands of acres of paddy fields and fish farms have been destroyed.
The affected areas include villages on the outskirts of Imphal and Bishnupur.
"Many farmers who were running fish farms have been severely affected by the floods. Fishes worth lakhs of rupees, have escaped from the ponds. Several houses have also been flooded in water," said Priyokumar.
"Many fields and farms have been flooded. I think income will be reduced by about 40 percent this year. It is worse than last year," said Indrajeet Singh.
The State Government has set up two relief camps in the region at Tammi Chingmi market.
The government has also provided Bamboo mats to the people who are rebuilding the embankment that has been breached by overflowing rivers.
"The water is flowing above the danger level. More than 1000 hectares of paddy fields have been submerged. We urge the private organizations and the government to help us. Many displaced families have taken shelter at government relief camps," said Biren Nongthobam, a villager at the relief camp.
"Being an MLA of this region, I have opened two relief camps, one at the Tribal village and another in Thangtek. I am here to deliver relief materials especially food items to the relief camps for the affected families," said K Sarat Singh, MLA, Konthoujam District.
Recently floods in Assam left more than 2 lakh people homeless. A total of 197 villages and 5.7-lakh hectares area were affected. The worst affected was Lakhimpur. (ANI)
Source:-
Monday, July 25, 2011
NGO demands proper relief for flood victims
| NGO demands proper relief for flood victims |
By our Staff Reporter GUWAHATI, July 24: The NGO Brothers has alleged corruption in the distribution of relief items to people affected by flood in the State this year. General secretary of the NGO, Dibyajyoti Saikia said, “Members of our NGO had visited flood-affected areas in Lakhimpur, Dhemaji and Kaziranga recently. There is widespread corruption going on in the name of distribution of relief items to flood victims. Fake lists of villages and flood victims are being made. State Water Resources minister Rajiv Lochan Pegu had visited only a few flood-affected areas in Lakhimpur recently. He saw the pitiable condition in which the flood victims are living. But why has he not taken any measures for proper relief and rehabilitation of these people?” The NGO has demanded that the State Government should issue strict orders to the district administration in the flood-affected districts of the State to ensure that there is “no corruption whatsoever in the distribution of relief items” and to ensure that the flood victims get proper medical treatment. |
Flood situation grim in UP after release of water from Nepal, Narora
Lucknow, July 24, 2011
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The flood situation in Uttar Pradesh has deteriorated following the release of water from Nepal and the Narora dam, threatening the embankments of the rivers flowing through the state.
Several low-lying areas of Gonda, Balrampur, Faizabadand Barabanki have been submerged by the overflowing Ghagra and Saryu rivers.
Nepal has released 2 lakh cusecs of water due to which the Ghagra river has crossed the danger level at Elgin Bridge and at Ayodhya while water level of river Ganga was rising all through its course after 11 lakh cusecs of water was released from Narora dam last night.
A report from Gonda said over 115 villages had been submerged with the water of river Ghagra in Colonelganj and Tarabganj tehsils.
Official sources said 26 flood check posts have been set up while jawans of the Provincial Armed Constabulary (PAC) along with boats had been pressed into service to rescue the people.
An official statement from the Flood Control Cell here today said that the water level of Ganga and Yamuna were rising all through its course in UP following the release of 11 lakh cusecs of water last night.
The release said river Ghagra had crossed the danger level at Elgin Bridge and Ayodhya while they would do the same at Turtipar by tomorrow morning.
Meanwhile, the weather office here said light rain and thunder showers occured at isolated places in the state.
Source:- http://netindian.in/news/2011/07/24/00014429/flood-situation-grim-after-release-water-nepal-narora
Friday, July 1, 2011
Global business consulting firm commits to reducing disaster risk
Global business consulting firm commits to reducing disaster risk as 'Disaster Risk Reduction Private Sector Partnership' initiative launches
30 June 2011, Mexico City - President Mauricio Mobarak of United Consulting & Corporate Services Global (UC&CS) has signed the 'Statement of Commitment by the Private Sector for Disaster Prevention, Resilience and Risk Reduction', announced by UNISDR's Private Sector Advisory Group during the Third Session of the Global Platform for Disaster Risk Reduction held in Geneva, Switzerland in May.
The advisory group is comprised of members from the private sector taking the lead in ensuring the safety of long-term investments and planning ahead to protect industry and society from disasters, economic disruptions while ensuring business continuity. Members include leaders and executives from IBM, WillisRe, Credit Suisse, Titan America, Cisco Internet Business Solutions Group, MunichRe Foundation, and Kokusai Kogyo Holdings.
“We are very happy to have signed the UNISDR Private Sector Statement of Commitment. As a private sector business providing financial and business risk assessment and mitigation, we felt this was a natural fit. We look forward to using our established network of affiliates across the globe to aid in furthering the commitment’s goals,” said Mr. Mobarak.
Flood-like situation in Yamunanagar
Flood-like situation in Yamunanagar
Yamunanagar (Har), Jun 29 (PTI) Flood-like situation has emerged in villages around the Yamuna river here with water level increasing considerably because of heavy rains in the catchment areas of Himachal Pradesh.
1.67 lakh cusecs of water has been released from Hathni Kund Barrage to reduce water level in the river, Deputy Commissioner Ashok Sagwan said.
The district administration has also issued an alert in the villages situated on the banks of the river, he said.
Deputy Commissioner appealed to the villagers not to panic and said the administration was ready to tackle any untoward situation.
Wednesday, June 29, 2011
National Consultation Workshop on Preparation of State Disaster Management Plans
Press Information Bureau
Government of India
Ministry of Home Affairs
National Consultation Workshop on Preparation of State Disaster Management Plans
Disaster Management Act. NDMA has been supporting the State/ UT Governments to prepare their DMPs through various initiatives. Shri M. Shashidhar Reddy, Vice Chairman, National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) has said that Disaster Management Plans (DMP) are living documents that would require constant improvement and innovation as the States continue to deal with various disasters. He was delivering the inaugural address at the 2-day National Consultation Workshop on Preparation of State Disaster Management Plans at NDMA Bhawan here today. States/ UTs are in different stages of preparation of the DMPs.
The aim of the workshop is to provide an opportunity to the States to share various measures taken by them for the preparation of State DMP and exchanging ideas and technical information thereby learn from each other in developing actionable State DMP.
Preparation of DMP is a mandatory requirement as per Disaster Management Act. NDMA had issued Guidelines for preparation of the State SDMPs in August 2007 in accordance with the provision of the Section 6(2)(d) of the
Monday, June 20, 2011
Climate change will cost poor countries billions of dollars, studies say
Adapting economies and maintaining infrastructure under global warming will cost developing countries dear, and resentment is building as rich countries delay in providing finance
A truck stuck in flood waters near Mauri, Mozambique. Research suggests that every African country will have to pay an extra $22m-$54m a year just to keep its already substandard road infrastructure in today’s condition. Photograph: Tim Zielenbach/AP
Africa, notoriously, has the worst roads in the world because its extremes of sun and rain bake them dry or leave them cratered and impassable for months at a time. The whole continent, which is physically larger than China, western Europe, India and the US together, still only has 171,000 km of all-weather roads - less than a country like Poland.
Now it can expect an extra $183bn bill just to maintain its few paved roads over the next 60 years because of the impact of climate change. According to a UN university team of economists, every African country will have to pay an extra $22m-$54m a year just to keep its already substandard road infrastructure in today's condition. The bill to upgrade and maintain Africa's many millions of miles of secondary roads and tracks, which can be expected to deteriorate even further with climate change, is not even considered.
The figures are not exact, but show how even the minimum of infrastructural improvement – considered a prerequisite for economic development – will be reined in in poor countries unless money is made available for them to adapt to climate change, and unless rich countries lessen the chances of runaway warming by reducing emissions quickly.
The road study coincides with a series of more sobering short reportsjust released from 19 developing countries that were asked by the UN Development Programme (UNDP) to calculate the costs of adapting just one or two sectors of their economies to climate change over the next 20 years.
The results are shocking. Costa Rica, for instance, estimates that it will need more than $3bn just to adapt its water and biodiversity sectors; Namibia $4bn to reduce the emissions from its power stations and to adapt its farming; Turkmenistan up to $7bn for its electricity and water sector; Togo $688m by 2030 to reduce emissions in its energy sector and to adapt its farming; Niger, nearly $2.5bn to find alternatives to burning firewood and adapt its farming.
The total, just for a few sectors of some countries, can be expected to be well over $100bn, roughly in line with the Lord Stern's estimates of at least 5% and perhaps more than 20% of global GDP being needed for adaptation.
"The figures are not a wish list of funds from rich countries, but an appraisal of the costs of reducing emissions in just a few areas of a few countries," said a UNDP spokeswoman.
But they also highlight the fact that the rich countries, currently at the climate change talks in Bonn, are nowhere near providing the $30bn that was pledged in the Copenhagen summit in 2009 for "fast-start" finance.
Analysis by the World Resources Institute last month showed that the world's 21 developed countries and the European commission have publicly announced pledges of $28bn in "fast-track" money, but next to nothing has been delivered. In addition, much of the money pledged appears to be double counted with existing official development assistance (ODA) budgets.
Resentment at the rich countries' delays in paying for adaptation is now reaching a crescendo. On Tuesday in Bonn, environment and development groups joined unions, health and youth justice organisations to demand that rich countries raise some of the long-term billions needed via a 0.02%-0.05% international financial transaction tax (FTT).
Friday, June 17, 2011
Ford publishes 2010-11 Sustainability Report
Ford publishes 2010-11 Sustainability Report
This is the 12th annual nonfinancial report of Ford Motor Company. Ford's vision for sustainability reporting is that it is the basis of organizational learning. It demonstrates Ford's values, and both reflects and drives outstanding economic, environmental and social performance. Ford's most recent previous report was released in June 2010.
Ford's focus for reporting is on Ford’s most important sustainability issues and those of most interest to report users and our stakeholders. The issues that rated highest in potential impact on the Company and concern to stakeholders are covered in a Material Issues section of this report.
Comprehensive information on a range of other significant issues is included in Ford's report in the Governance, Economy, Environment and Society sections.
Highlights from this year's report include:
- A section on climate change that summarizes continuing progress toward global CO2 reduction goals
- A section summarizing Ford's “Blueprint for Sustainability” and the vehicle and fuel technologies that make up the migration plan
- An updated case study on the opportunities and challenges posed by vehicle electrification, as well as other case studies
- A new section that examines the social and economic implications of water use
- A section on supply chain sustainability efforts that covers industry-leading human rights initiatives, and leadership promoting environmental sustainability and materials accountability throughout the automotive supply chain
- Letters from Ford's Executive Chairman, and President & CEO.
Ford Motor Company, a global automotive industry leader based in Dearborn, Mich., manufactures or distributes automobiles across six continents. With about 166,000 employees and about 70 plants worldwide, the company’s automotive brands include Ford and Lincoln. The company provides financial services through Ford Motor Credit Company. For more information regarding Ford’s products, please visit http://www.ford.com
Ford's 2010-11 Sustainability Report –http://corporate.ford.com/about-ford/sustainability/corporate-sustainability
Please send comments to sustaina@ford.com.
Huawei Releases 2010 Corporate Social Responsibility Report
Huawei Releases 2010 Corporate Social Responsibility Report
Huawei is committed to driving the sustainable development of the economy, society, and the environment
[Shenzhen, China, 13 June, 2011]:Huawei, a leading telecom solutions provider, today released its 2010 corporate social responsibility (CSR) report. The report provides an overall review of Huawei's commitments and practices with regard to its corporate social responsibilities, including implementing fair operations, practicing ongoing environmental protection, bridging the digital divide, enhancing supply chain CSR management, caring for employees, and offering community support. The report demonstrates Huawei's efforts and contributions in driving the sustainable development of the economy, society, and the environment.
This is Huawei's third annual CSR report. The report was compiled in compliance with the G3 guidelines of the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI), and it discloses Huawei's efforts and practices in a systematic and standardized manner. Major core indicators were used. The application level of the report is B+.
Source :-
Wednesday, June 15, 2011
Villages sinking in India
Sitamarhi:There are places in Bihar where one can see the process of disappearance of civilization and the villages getting buried under the sediments brought by rivers.? In coming 10-15 years, a tragedy worse than that of Kusaha will strike here for the simple reason that the river bed would be 25 feet higher than the countryside and the crest of the embankment, 35 feet, said a technocrat and an expert on Bihar rivers Dinesh K Mishra in his recent article.
Read in Detail at :-
To avoid last year’s chaos, disaster cell lines up SMS weapon
To avoid last year’s chaos, disaster cell lines up SMS weapon
Last year’s bad monsoon experience has made officials take extra precautions to avoid any repeats this year.
For starters, the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) is installing an SMS blaster at the disaster management cell that started functioning at the civic body premises last Wednesday.
This is to ensure efficient delivery of alerts to citizens and the civic staff to ensure faster response to any untoward incident during monsoon.
The civic body on Wednesday started the disaster management cell in the civic headquarters.
The cell would run during the whole of monsoon. “The cell will be operational 24 hours during monsoon and coordinate rescue and relief operations,” said Deputy Municipal Commissioner, Pravin Ashtikar.
He said the disaster management cell is as per the plan prepared by the civic body in association with the All India Institute of Local Self Government (AIILSG).
Read in detail at :-
http://cdrn.org.in/show.detail.asp?id=21971
Monday, June 13, 2011
Gujarat: monsoon mayhem leaves 2 people dead
New Delhi: Three straight days of heavy rain has left two people dead in Gujarat.
Roads and markets in Veraval and Somnath are waterlogged and standing crops have been damaged.
A cyclone warning was issued for the Gujarat coast on Sunday because of a low pressure over the Saurashtra region.
High speed winds which uprooted trees and electric poles in many places are expected to subside by Monday.
Source :-
Friday, May 27, 2011
Be prepared for any monsoon disaster, states asked
Be prepared for any monsoon disaster, states asked
Submitted by admin3 on 26 May 2011 - 6:34pm
By IANS,
New Delhi: Amid likelihood of monsoon to touch India at this month-end, the government Thursday sounded an alert and asked states to be prepared to tackle any possible disaster in the wake of floods triggered by heavy rains.
Another advice from Home Secretary G.K. Pillai for the state governments was to keep a close vigil on human traffickers who abduct those affected, particularly children, left vulnerable after devastating floods to work as bricklayers, domestic servants and even sold as brides.
Pillai, at the day-long conference on disaster management ahead of monsoon, "warned that human trafficking gangs become very active during all disasters and there was a need to monitor their activities".
The home ministry had organised the annual conference to review the status of preparedness of the states and union territories for southwest monsoon.
Pillai, in his address, emphasised the importance of disaster and its management in view of its rising trend and with climate change impacting health, agriculture and habitat of different species.
Speaking about the preparedness and mitigation measures, he pointed out that amendment of building bylaws as per vulnerability index of the states was "the key priority area and there was an urgent need to prepare for disaster scenarios through regular mock drills and exercises".
Secretary, border management, A.E. Ahmed in his address focused on hazard scenarios and impact coupled with climate change aspects.
He also asked the state representatives to prepare and forward consolidated memoranda for central assistance in case of disasters of severe nature.
"The states needed to gear up their machinery for coordination with all stakeholders engaged in disaster related activities and to follow the checklists issued by (the ministry) for better preparedness," Ahmed said
Source :- http://twocircles.net/2011may26/be_prepared_any_monsoon_disaster_states_asked.html+
Don't forget about the Christchurch earthquake: Lessons learned from disaster
Don't forget about the Christchurch earthquake: Lessons learned from disaster
In the aftermath of the devastating magnitude-9.0 earthquake and tsunami that struck the Tohoku region of Japan on March 11, attention quickly turned away from a much smaller, but also highly destructive earthquake that struck the city of Christchurch, New Zealand, just a few weeks earlier, on Feb. 22. Both events are stark reminders of human vulnerability to natural disasters and provide a harsh reality check: Even technologically advanced countries with modern building codes are not immune from earthquake disasters. The Christchurch earthquake carried an additional message: Urban devastation can be triggered even by moderate-sized earthquakes.
The Oxford Terrace Baptist Church was damaged in the Christchurch earthquake.
©Schwede66, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported
As seismologists and engineers sort through the aftermath of Christchurch’s earthquake, they are already revealing some crucial lessons that might help us learn how to better prepare for such urban earthquakes. The magnitude-6.1 Christchurch earthquake was dwarfed by the Japan earthquake, which carried some 22,000 times more energy. It was even overshadowed by the much larger magnitude-7.0 earthquake that struck just 45 kilometers away from Christchurch on Sept. 3, 2010 (the Christchurch quake is widely considered to be an aftershock of the September quake). Nonetheless, the Christchurch event inflicted considerable damage: It killed nearly 200 people and caused more than $12 billion in losses (the September quake didn’t kill anyone and caused only a quarter of the damage). The damage was far greater than would have initially been expected for an event of this size.
Why? The damage was considerable because the earthquake originated only six kilometers from Christchurch’s population center and parts of Christchurch’s urban area were as close as one kilometer from the fault rupture. Its relatively shallow depth (only 5 kilometers beneath Earth’s surface) produced extraordinarily strong shaking at the surface. The earthquake occurred at about 1 p.m. on a busy workday, so many more people were in downtown Christchurch and thus exposed to the hazards of collapsing tall buildings; half the deaths from this earthquake occurred when one building collapsed. Finally, the effects of the seismic vibrations were probably amplified by the thick sedimentary layers on which the city is built.
Early reports from Christchurch found patterns of damage that are familiar to seismic engineers: the destruction of older, unreinforced masonry structures (like the Christchurch Cathedral) and the collapse of a handful of high-rise buildings that were built prior to modern seismic engineering standards. But it also appears that there were ground accelerations recorded in the Christchurch area that exceeded the design specifications of more recent buildings. Furthermore, there are clear indications of earthquake-induced liquefaction, or ground failure, and flooding that exacerbated impacts and hampered disaster response.
Earthquakes the size of Christchurch’s temblor occur globally about 100 times per year, or a couple of times each week; statistical analysis of the earthquake record indicates that for every magnitude-9.0 Tohoku-sized earthquake, there are about 1,000 Christchurch-sized earthquakes of magnitude 6.0. Fortunately, most of the moderate earthquakes don’t wind up in newspaper headlines. They occur in remote, unpopulated areas, are under water, or are deep enough that they don’t produce significant societal impacts. As the Christchurch earthquake demonstrated, however, when one of these events takes place close to a populated area, its effects can be devastating.
Many urban planners in the U.S. are appropriately concerned about the potential occurrence of a Christchurch-type earthquake — a relatively moderate magnitude-6.0 to -6.5 earthquake — directly beneath an American city.
Many American cities are vulnerable to damage in much the same way as Christchurch. A number of U.S. cities — notably Charleston, Memphis, Los Angeles, Portland, Salt Lake City, San Francisco and Seattle — are built dangerously close to known faults that have produced large earthquakes in the past, and their growing urban population centers are encroaching on hazardous areas. Most of our cities situated in seismic zones — particularly those in the central and eastern U.S. — have a large inventory of old, unreinforced masonry structures that are subject to damage or collapse, even from moderate earthquakes. And even more recent buildings constructed in the 1960s and early 1970s were built without seismic-resistant design.
Furthermore, the ground beneath many of our cities is underlain by unconsolidated sediments and thus is subject to seismic wave amplification and liquefaction. Add in the vulnerability of critical facilities — such as dams, nuclear power plants and chemical storage facilities — to the cascading secondary effects of earthquakes, including strong ground shaking, liquefaction, landslides, tsunamis and flooding, and you have the makings of a disaster.
Earth scientists understand that earthquakes are an inevitable consequence of geological processes, but we also know that earthquake disasters are not. Renowned 20th century author Will Durant wrote in “The Story of Civilization”: “Civilization exists by geological consent, subject to change without notice.” If we are to address his prophetic challenge, we must seek innovative ways to help prepare for and mitigate the urban disaster that is likely to happen during our lifetimes.
That disaster is most likely to manifest itself, not in the form of a massive, Tohoku-style earthquake, but as a moderate-sized Christchurch-style event, in which its proximity to an urban center results in damage far out of proportion to its size. While we cannot forecast which city will be the next victim of such an earthquake, we can mitigate potential impacts. For the most part, we already know what needs to be done. Now the challenge is transforming this geoscience knowledge into action. Let’s not be caught unaware — or unprepared.
Michael W. Hamburger and Walter D. Mooney
Tuesday, May 24, 2011
Cities "urgently need protection" from disaster
United Nations Deputy Secretary-General says cities "urgently need protection" from disaster; local government action is crucial
Geneva, 20 May -- After announcing last week that Geneva would take part in the United Nations "Making Cities Resilient" campaign, Pierre Maudet, the incoming Mayor of Geneva as of 1 June, said the city would share experiences with other local governments seeking to manage risk.Mr. Maudet made that comment at a meeting convened by the United Nations secretariat for the International Strategy for Disaster Reduction (UNISDR), attended by United Nations Deputy Secretary-General Asha Rose Migiro and nearly 30 mayors and local government officials.
In her statement to the group, Deputy Secretary-General Migiro said local governments played a crucial role in getting citizens prepared to face natural hazards: "As local officials, you are on the front lines. You cannot wait for national authorities to catch up. You have to act now."
Later, Ms. Migiro commended the Making Cities Resilient campaign for signing more than 600 local governments, but noted, "It was just a small fraction of the number of cities that we need on board. Already more than half the world’s population lives in urban areas. They urgently need protection."
At the Global Platform, the group of Mayors and local government officials agreed on a Mayors Statement, which was presented at the closing session of the 2011 Global Platform, where they announced their commitment to integrate disaster risk reduction and resilience building in planning, awareness raising and investment decisions for their respective cities. Among other things, they also agreed to work with the private sector to promote legal frameworks and proportionate budget increases aimed at strengthening capacities for resilience at the local government level through strategic spatial and territorial planning, land-use, and development programming.
Also on 11 May, several cities joined the Making Cities Resilient campaign aside from Geneva, including: Aqaba, Jordan; Dakar, Senegal; Madrid, Spain; Nadi, Fiji; Portmore, Jamaica; Tevragh Zeina, Mauritania; and the State of Tyrol, Austria.
On the same day, eight cities were named "Role Model Cities" for the Making Cities Resilient campaign: Bhubaneswar, India; Chengdu, China; Mumbai, India; North Vancouver, Canada; Saint Louis, Senegal; Santa Fe, Argentina; Santa Tecla, El Salvador; and Venice, Italy. Campaign Role Models commit to actively share their experiences and knowledge with local governments participating in the campaign.
The Campaign identified a new Champion from the Caribbean, Keith Hinds, Mayor of Portmore, Jamaica, who pledged to promote the campaign goals and disaster risk reduction at local level in the Caribbean, and announced that Portmore would host the national campaign launch for Jamaica later in the year.
The meeting was presided by David Cadman, Vice Mayor of North Vancouver and President of ICLEI-Local Governments for Sustainability.
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