In News :

Context :

• Earthquakes and tsunamis accounted for most of the 10,373 lives lost in disasters last year, while extreme weather events accounted for most of 61.7 million people affected by natural hazards, the UN Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNISDR) has said.
• No part of the globe was spared from the impact of extreme weather events last year.
• The country most affected by disasters was India, where there were 23.9 million people hit, the country with the most deaths was Indonesia with 4,535, followed by India (1,388).
• The UN official said that time is running out for limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees Centigrade or 2 degrees Centigrade.

UN Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNISDR) :

• It was established in 1999 as dedicated secretariat to facilitate implementation of International Strategy for Disaster Reduction (ISDR).
• It is an organisational unit of UN Secretariat and is led by the UN Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Disaster Risk Reduction (SRSG).
• It is headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland.
• It is mandated by United Nations General Assembly resolution (56/195) to serve as focal point in United Nations system for coordination of disaster reduction and to ensure synergies among disaster reduction activities of United Nations system and regional organizations and activities in socio‐ economic and humanitarian fields.