At a press encounter in New York, US, UN Secretary-General António Guterres called for innovative financing mechanisms to address disasters, and urged countries to implement the Paris Agreement on climate change.
The WMO issued a warning that the weather over large parts of the world may be influenced by weak La Niña conditions in the next few months for the second consecutive year.
UNESCO’s ‘Improving Resilience to Emergencies through Advanced Cyber Technologies’ project aims to generate the most complete tool for the prevention and management of disasters.
5 October 2017: In the wake of the recent hurricanes that devastated the Caribbean, disaster risk management (DRM), disaster risk reduction (DRR) and resilience-building efforts have gained prominence. The UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) and European partners are working on a system to use social media, smartphones and wearables to improve emergency data management.
At a press encounter in New York, US, UN Secretary-General António Guterres highlighted the links between climate change and extreme weather. “A warmer climate turbocharges the intensity of hurricanes,” he noted. “Instead of dissipating, they pick up fuel as they move across the ocean.” He called for innovative financing mechanisms to address disasters, and urged countries to implement the Paris Agreement on climate change. [UN Secretary-General’s Remarks on Recent Caribbean Hurricanes]
Areas which receive below-average rainfall during an El Niño tend to receive above-average rainfall during a La Niña, and vice versa.
The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) issued an ‘El Niño/La Niña Update,’ warning that the weather over large parts of the world may be influenced by weak La Niña conditions in the next few months for the second consecutive year.
La Niña refers to the large-scale cooling of the ocean surface temperatures in the central and eastern equatorial Pacific, along with changes in the tropical atmospheric circulation. Phases of atmosphere-ocean interplay over the tropical Pacific, collectively referred to as the El Niño/Southern Oscillation (ENSO), El Niño and La Niña have opposite effects on weather and climate patterns. Areas which receive below-average rainfall during an El Niño tend to receive above-average rainfall during a La Niña, and vice versa. [WMO El Niño/La Niña Update] [WMO Press Release]
UNESCO’s ‘Improving Resilience to Emergencies through Advanced Cyber Technologies’ (I-REACT) initiative aims to generate the most complete tool for the prevention and management of disasters. One of its key features is a mobile app that will provide citizens and communities with a higher situational awareness in disasters. The app will allow to send and receive localized real-time reports, compounded with photos and videos, to notify the responders and decision makers. [UNESCO Press Release] [I-REACT Project Webpage]