The
United Nations General Assembly
The United Nations General Assembly (UNGA or GA; , AGNU or AG) is one of the six principal organs of the United Nations (UN), serving as its main deliberative, policymaking, and representative organ. Currently in its Seventy-ninth session of th ...
designated the 1990s as the International Decade for Natural Disaster Reduction (IDNDR).
UN General Assembly
The United Nations General Assembly (UNGA or GA; , AGNU or AG) is one of the six principal organs of the United Nations (UN), serving as its main deliberative, policymaking, and representative organ. Currently in its 79th session, its powers, ...
, Resolution 44/236, International Decade for Natural Disaster Reduction, A/Res/44/236 (March 1990), https://digitallibrary.un.org/record/82536. Retrieved 2023-06-22.
Its basic objective was to decrease the loss of life, property destruction and social and economic disruption caused by
natural disaster
A natural disaster is the very harmful impact on a society or community brought by natural phenomenon or Hazard#Natural hazard, hazard. Some examples of natural hazards include avalanches, droughts, earthquakes, floods, heat waves, landslides ...
s, such as
earthquake
An earthquakealso called a quake, tremor, or tembloris the shaking of the Earth's surface resulting from a sudden release of energy in the lithosphere that creates seismic waves. Earthquakes can range in intensity, from those so weak they ...
s,
tsunami
A tsunami ( ; from , ) is a series of waves in a water body caused by the displacement of a large volume of water, generally in an ocean or a large lake. Earthquakes, volcanic eruptions and underwater explosions (including detonations, ...
s,
flood
A flood is an overflow of water (list of non-water floods, or rarely other fluids) that submerges land that is usually dry. In the sense of "flowing water", the word may also be applied to the inflow of the tide. Floods are of significant con ...
s,
landslide
Landslides, also known as landslips, rockslips or rockslides, are several forms of mass wasting that may include a wide range of ground movements, such as rockfalls, mudflows, shallow or deep-seated slope failures and debris flows. Landslides ...
s,
volcanic eruption
A volcanic eruption occurs when material is expelled from a volcanic vent or fissure. Several types of volcanic eruptions have been distinguished by volcanologists. These are often named after famous volcanoes where that type of behavior h ...
s,
droughts,
locust
Locusts (derived from the Latin ''locusta'', locust or lobster) are various species of short-horned grasshoppers in the family Acrididae that have a swarming phase. These insects are usually solitary, but under certain circumstances they b ...
infestations, and other disasters of natural origin.
History
On December 22, 1989, the
United Nations
The United Nations (UN) is the Earth, global intergovernmental organization established by the signing of the Charter of the United Nations, UN Charter on 26 June 1945 with the stated purpose of maintaining international peace and internationa ...
General Assembly passed Resolution 44/236, officially launching The International Decade for Natural Disaster Reduction.
From 1990 to 1999, the effort was intended to reduce, through concerted international action, especially in developing countries, loss of life, property damage and social and economic disruption caused by natural disasters.
To support the decade's activities, a Secretariat was established at the United Nations Office in Geneva, in close association with UNDRO.
See also
*
International Day for Disaster Reduction
*
World Conference on Disaster Reduction
*
Disaster management
References
External links
UNISDR Regional Office for the AmericasPreventionWeb
*
International Recovery Platformstopdisastersgame.org
1990s in the environment
Disaster preparedness
United Nations observances
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