October 13 – International Day for Disaster Risk Reduction

The International Day for Disaster Risk Reduction was established in 1989 by the decision of the UN General Assembly and has been observed in Georgia since 2015.

On December 22, 1989, the United Nations General Assembly declared the second Wednesday of October as International Day for Disaster Risk Reduction and it was observed each year as part of an ‘International Decade (1990-1999) for Natural Disaster Reduction.’ On December 21, 2009, the General Assembly decided to designate 13 October as the official date to commemorate the Day at the same time changing the name of this day as follows: International Day for Disaster Reduction. In a subsequent resolution, the General Assembly decided to change the name again and designated it as “International Day for Disaster Risk Reduction”. The objective of the observance is to raise awareness of what measures are being taken and how to reduce the risk of disasters.

October 13 is observed annually in many countries worldwide. As for Georgia, campaigns and events dedicated to Day for Disaster Risk Reduction launched in 2015. Natural disasters/catastrophes result in death and destruction. They cause social and economic perturbations. Every year millions of people are forced to leave their living environment because of this. Due to natural disasters, countries are prone to reduce funds allocated to programs to address existing challenges in the field of sustainable development. It is worth noting that many natural disasters are caused by climate change. Hence, there is an urgent need to strengthen local capacity, as well as the implementation of the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction (adopted in 2015 by a resolution of the UN General Assembly that includes detailed actions for 2015-2030) which provides specific ways to reduce the follow-ups of disasters of any scale and nature (including those caused by human activities).

The main purpose of the October 13th observance is to inform the general public about the situation related to catastrophes/natural disasters, as well as to increase their awareness of the actions already taken or planned for the future.