Resilient Cities: Disaster Risk Reduction in an Urbanizing World

This paper builds on the recent earthquakes in Haiti, Chile and China to remind of the increasing disaster risk faced by urban settlements around the world and to call for urban risk reduction to be considered as a crucial component of wider development plans that will also help achieve the Millennium Development Goals. It reports on a joint UNISDR, UN-HABITAT and IFRC side event, which discussed current initiatives related to urban risk reduction, in particular in Port-of-Prince, Tijuana and Kathmandu.