In 1934, the fault line than runs beneath the Kathmandu valley slipped. The magnitude 8.4 earthquake that followed destroyed more than 80,000 buildings and claimed 8,500 lives. It was the last earthquake to shake the city of Kathmandu and surrounding valley. Almost 80 years later, UN agencies and the government are determined...
With the upcoming rainy season only weeks away and the hurricane season fast approaching, an informal group of UN leaders, international organization heads and government ministers has visited Haiti to highlight the need for action to be taken to make the beleaguered country more resilient to disasters.
“Disasters are...
On 6 February 2013, an 8.0 magnitude earthquake set off a small but powerful tsunami that sent 1.5-metre waves roaring inland on Santa Cruz Island, a remote area in the Solomon Islands archipelago of the Pacific. Nearly 40 per cent of the houses on the island were either damaged or destroyed and an estimated 60 per cent of...
OCHA Operations Director John Ging concluded his first visit to the Philippines on Monday, urging the international community to step up their efforts to help the Government meet the needs of people affected by Typhoon Bopha. The typhoon, which was the deadliest storm anywhere in the world in 2012, hit the southern island of...
Walking through the streets of the Cateel, on the eastern coast of Mindanao, the devastation left by Typhoon Bopha (known locally as Pablo) is evident everywhere. Most houses are covered by tarpaulins, debris fills the spaces where family homes once stood and the fragile structures of damaged houses punctuate the streets....