The international strategy for disaster reduction and the Hyogo framework for action (2005-2015): Essential tools for meeting the challenges of extreme events

Abstract

Following the ten-year review of the 1994 Yokohama Strategy (United Nations, 1994), and at the conclusion of two years of negotiations, governments adopted the Hyogo Framework for Action (2005-2015): Building the Resilience of Nations and Communities to Disasters (United Nations, 2005) at the second World Conference on Disaster Reduction (WCDR) in Kobe, Hyogo, 18-22 January 2005. This agreement represents an historic engagement of governments and the international community to respond forcefully to the increasing vulnerability to natural events or phenomena around the world. In doing so, governments agreed on a series of specific policies and measures to be taken to substantially reduce disaster losses by 2015 (in terms of loss of life and social, economic, and environmental assets of communities and countries). The collective decision of governments to engage at this level was made just a few weeks after the giant Indian Ocean tsunami on 26 December 2004. While governments' adoption of this set of specific recommendations has not yet translated into bold changes in policies and investments around the world, much has been advanced and the process towards implementing such changes is now irreversible.