UNISDR UN Office for Disaster Risk Reduction [to 26 March 2016]
http://www.unisdr.org/archive

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23 Mar 2016
Speech by Robert Glasser at the World Meteorological Organization
Mr. Robert Glasser, Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General for Disaster Risk Reduction
[Excerpt]
…We are probably still at a stage in human development when poverty and exposure to disaster risk are the main factors in deciding whether someone survives an event such as Typhoon Haiyan which claimed over 6,000 lives in the Philippines in November 2013.

Despite the fact that such events are usually well-announced beforehand, poverty and an exposed location can mean the difference between life and death more so than the nature of the hazard itself.

The Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction, adopted a year ago at the Third UN World Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction, recognizes with a clarity unusual in international agreements how important it is not only to continue to improve disaster management but to go beyond that to address the underlying drivers of risk which include poverty, exposure, land use, unplanned urbanization, poor risk governance and, of course, climate change…
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