International Day for Disaster Reduction

International Day for Disaster Reduction (IDDR) is observed on 13th October each year to celebrate how people and communities are reducing their exposure to disaster. The day was designated by the United Nations General Assembly in recognition of the efforts that individuals and communities have undertaken to reduce their risk to disasters and increase the awareness of disaster risk reduction.

With the recent spike of hurricanes, earthquakes, typhoons, and floods around the world, awareness about global disaster reduction could not have come at a better time. The severity, frequency, and economic losses from these natural disasters are being fuelled by climate change.

History of International Day for Disaster Reduction

The International Day for Disaster Risk Reduction started in 1989 after a call by the United Nations General Assembly for a day that aims to promote a global culture of risk-awareness and disaster reduction. It is held on 13 October each year and is used to celebrate how people and communities around the world are reducing their exposure to disasters, and to raise awareness about the importance of reining in the risks that they face.

By a resolution in 2002, the General Assembly decided to maintain annual supervision as a vehicle to promote a global culture of natural disaster reduction, including prevention, mitigation, and preparedness. due to this, in 2009 it was decided by the United Nations General Assembly to designate this day as the official date. Just then, the day of October 13 was designated and made an international day.

The celebration of International Day for National Disaster Reduction commenced from the year 2009 and is being celebrated every year in a different form. The General Assembly of United Nations decided to observe the second Wednesday of October as an International effort to reduce Natural disasters. Later by 64/200 resolution of the assembly which was passed on 21st December 2009, a clause was introduced to amend the second Wednesday clause and a fixed date i.e. 13th October of every year was to be observed as International Day for Natural Disaster Reduction.

The agenda was to raise awareness amongst people and encourage them to take action to decrease the threat of disasters worldwide. At the 3rd World Conference on Disaster Reduction, the United Nations was made abreast of the negligence made by the people that had resulted in a higher number of disaster-related deaths than the previous years.

International Day for Disaster Reduction 2024 will focus on the theme of “empowering the next generation for a resilient future”. International cooperation is essential to ensure that no vulnerable people are left behind in disaster-prone settings, including women, children and youth, people with disabilities, the elderly, migrants, and indigenous people. The year 2021 promises to be a make-or-break year when it comes to delivering on the policy agenda agreed in 2015. Without real action on climate in the next ten years, extreme weather events will be overwhelming, especially for developing countries.

How is International Day for Disaster Reduction Celebrated?

International Day for Natural Disaster Reduction is observed annually to raise vigilance about the repercussions of changes that are going on in our environment which leads to calamities. Millions of people are encouraged to come forward and talk about the efforts they have been putting in to understand this menace which has lead to the loss of people and property. These people encourage others to get involved in awareness-raising campaigns and a number of activities are organized for the commemoration of International day to reduce the risk of natural disasters. The staff of various governmental and non-governmental organizations lance awareness programs.

The media plays a major role by organizing a number of volunteer programs online. The young generation nowadays uses Facebook, Twitter, and other social applications on this day to spread the theme of International Day for Natural Disaster Reduction. They share events in various states, famous environmental quotes, and facts, add photos based on the theme of that particular year.

On this day in India, various activities are held to spread awareness of disaster and disaster management. The occurrence of calamities in India is higher than expected, but the resilience is slow and not speedy in any way. The day is celebrated to educate the people of the country on issues of international concern, to gather political will as well as resources, and to address global problems.

On the International Day of Natural Disaster Reduction, the entire population makes an approach to the people of all the generations to join them in this fight in a mass number to get themselves aware of the real environmental threats and also be the agents of campaigns for the promotion of reduction in the Natural Disasters.

There are many celebrations in schools, colleges, universities through various activities to spread awareness and promote disaster management methods that can bring positive changes in our lives and the climatic conditions.

Many disasters can be avoided or prevented if there is a risk inferred approach to the development, construction, and maintenance of critical infrastructure.

Get involved!

You can get involved and keep up to date with what’s going on IDDR by:

• Following on Twitter and Facebook.

• Using the #IDDR hashtag on Twitter to spread the word about older people and disaster risk reduction.

• Spreading the theme of International Day for Natural Disaster Reduction on various social applications.

Suggested Read: Important Days In October