Responding to disasters efficiently is an important aspect of mitigating their effects. This implies setting up means of emergency management and planning beyond emergency for longer term needs for reconstruction and rehabilitation. UNESCO’s contribution to the overall United Nations system’s response to disaster situations has considerably increased over the past few years. The Organization advocates the integration of disaster risk reduction in national reconstruction efforts and, more generally, calls for policy advice and capacity building to improve prevention measures as part of the reconstruction agenda. UNESCO supports the enhancement of local capacities to handle post disaster rehabilitation including:

• reconstructing of educational systems;
• promoting of cultural diversity including restoration and protection of threatened cultural and
• natural heritage;
• reinforcing and promotion of independent and pluralistic media;
• drawing lessons for future risk mitigation;
• rebuilding global scientific capacities for disaster reduction.

Another aspect of UNESCO’s post-disaster activities is to carry out studies in disaster areas to better know the effects of disasters and therefore the capacities needed to respond to them. A considerable amount about the behaviour of earthquakes is known as a result of many post-disaster reconnaissance missions conducted by UNESCO. Regional disaster reduction programmes have also been carried out with the help of UNESCO field offices, following disaster events, such as Bangkok office, Montevideo office, Beijing office, Islamabad office and others.

One of the missions of UNESCO’s IPRED project is establishing a new system to dispatch experts to earthquake stricken areas in order to carry out post-earthquake studies.