Devastated Mexico
Between Thursday and Saturday, Cancun's hotel area was destroyed by the cyclone. The 28 km-long peninsula was flooded by the Caribbean Sea.

Cuba, deprived of electricity
Guanimar, a fishing village on the southern coast, experienced a 3-metre inrush of water. The Cuban authorities evacuated half a million people before the hurricane's arrival.

While the southern part of the United States is being battered by Wilma, another tropical storm, called Alpha, has just swept over Cuba and the Dominican Republic.

The Wilma Monster !
20 October - The hurricane, which is heading towards the coasts of the Mexican Gulf, is the most powerful ever registered in the Atlantic. Already, torrential rains which go with it have provoked landslides, causing 10 deaths in Haiti. The Cayman islands, Honduras and Nicaragua were under watch, while the latter two countries hardly recovered from Hurricane Stan. Wilma could cause strong damages in Florida, which just sustained hurricanes destroying 40% of the fruit crop last year.

At 2:00 a.m. ETD the center of hurricane Wilma was located near latitude 18.1 N, longitude 84.7 West, or about 485 miles SSW of Key West. Wilma could regain Category five status later today.

Wilma entered the history books becoming the Atlantic hurricane season's 21st named storm, tying the record set in 1933, and exhausting the list of storm names. Wilma is the last on the list of the storm names for 2005; there are 21 names on the yearly list of the National Hurricane Center (NHC) because the letters Q, U, X, Y and Z are skipped. If any other storms form, letters from the Greek alphabet would be used, starting with Alpha for the first time. Storms have gotten alphabetical names only in the past 60 years. The six-month hurricane season ends November 30.

Contribute to conference on energy, disasters and environment
Contributions are being accepted until 15 June for an International Conference on Energy, Disasters and Environment (INCEED 2005) to be held from 24 to 30 July on the theme of 'Bridging the gaps for global sustainable development'. The event is to be hosted by the Global Institute for Energy and Environmental Systems (GIEES) of the University of North Carolina at Charlotte (UNCC) in the USA within a partnership promoted by UNESCO encompassing the GIEES, the International Society of Environmental Geotechnology and the Global Alliance for Disaster Reduction for disaster risk reduction.

UNESCO appeals to Indian Ocean nations and donors to maintain momentum in building tsunami early warning system
28 March - The earthquake that struck Sumatra, Indonesia, on March 28, has reinforced the need for a comprehensive, durable tsunami early warning system that will provide the accurate real-time information required by national authorities to properly warn and protect their populations, UNESCO Director-General Koïchiro Matsuura said today. (More)

Magnitude 8.7 - Norther Sumatra, Indonesia
28 March - Three months after the December 2004 tsunami, a new earthquake hit the Indian Ocean off the coast of Sumatra (Indonesia) on Monday 28 March 2005. Measuring 8.7 on the Richter scale, this quake have caused the deaths of hunderds of people. It did not trigger a significant tsunami. Information on this earthquake U.S. Geological Survey and about UNESCO's response can be found on the following: International Tsunami Information Centre.

The role of UNESCO in the World Conference on Disaster Reduction
Kobe, Hyogo, Japan, 18-22 January 2005 In the shadow of the Indian Ocean disaster of 26 December, 4000 participants met in Kobe representing 168 States, 78 United Nations bodies and other organizations, 161 NGOs and as many media. The conference concluded with a unanimous commitment to reducing disaster risk as an intrinsic element of sustainable development. (More)

Disaster reduction conference adopts 10-year plan of action
24 January - The UN World Conference on Disaster Reduction concluded on Saturday with the adoption by 168 delegations of a the Hyogo Framework for Action to 2015. The action plan focuses on strengthening the capacity of disaster-prone countries to address risk and invest heavily in disaster preparedness. 'The critical ingredient is political commitment', noted Jan Egeland, UN Under-Secretary General for Humanitarian Affairs. In addition to the action plan, an International Early Warning Programme involving UNESCO, the World Meteorological Organization, the World Food Programme and other organizations was launched to improve resilience to all types of natural hazards. It emphasizes the importance of people-centred early warning systems and community education about disaster preparedness. Discussions on disaster preparedness also led to A Coalition on Education led by UNESCO which will incorporate disaster reduction education into school programmes and set about making school buildings safer. The coalition will bring together governments, UN agencies and specialized academic institutions. An international flood initiative was also launched to prepare communities for this specific type of hazard. It involves UNESCO, WMO and other partners. At a special session, delegates pledged support for a regional tsunami early warning system in the Indian Ocean. The new system will draw on the experience of the Pacific Ocean tsunami early warning system co-ordinated by UNESCO's Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission. Last but not least, megacities are the target of a new open Alliance which will bring together municipal authorities from megacities around the world to develop city disaster management plans. (More)

UNESCO programmes on natural disaster reduction -
Genuine culture of prevention on a world scale
6 January 2005 - UNESCO must be prepared to respond appropriately, within its fields of competence, to the needs of suffering people. (More)

Massive tsunami hits Indian Ocean Coasts
Sunday 26 December 2004 at 0100 GMT, an 8.9 magnitude earthquake occured on the seafloor near Aceh in northern Indonesia. This earthquake generated a huge tsunami wave, hitting the coasts of Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, Myanmar, India, Sri Lanka, Maldives and even Somalia. The image on the left shows how the wave moved towards the surrounding coasts. (More)

Massive Earthquake and widespread devastation in Northern Pakistan and Azad Kashmir
A major earthquake of 7.6 magnitude on the Richter scale struck Pakistan, 60 miles NNE of Islamabad, and Azad Kashmir at on Saturday, October 8, 2005, followed the two following days by after shocks of 6 on the Richter scale. At least 30,000 people were killed, 43,000 injured and hundreds of thousands are homeless in winter conditions. The casualty figures continue to rise.

Earthquakes and active faults in northern Pakistan and adjacent parts of India and Afghanistan are the direct result of the Indian subcontinent moving northward at a rate of about 40 mm/yr (1.6 inches/yr) and colliding with the Eurasian continent. This collision is causing uplift that produces the highest mountain peaks in the world including the Himalayan, the Karakoram, the Pamir and the Hindu Kush ranges. As the Indian plate moves northward, it is being subducted or pushed beneath the Eurasian plate. In the rugged mountainous terrain, it is difficult to identify and map all of the individual thrust faults, but the overall tectonic style of the modern deformation is clear in the area of the earthquake. The strike and dip direction of these thrust faults is compatible with the style of faulting indicated by the focal mechanism from the nearby M 7.6 earthquake.

Useful links: U.S. Geological Survey and International Society for Diatom Research

"Exploration for Disaster Prevention"
Programme carried out by the GIAJ In view of the social and public responsibilities of the general insurance business, the General Insurance Association of Japan (GIAJ) has long been actively engaged in various activities to mitigate the damage caused by natural disasters. As part of these disaster prevention activities, the GIAJ has been promoting the "Exploration for Disaster Prevention" programme since 2003. (More)

International Disaster Reduction Day
It is International Disaster Reduction Day on 12 October. At a time when the Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami and Hurricanes Katrina and Rita are still fresh in our minds, UNESCO's Director-General has issued a statement calling for scientific support and technical know-how to be mobilized to strengthen disaster mitigation and for engineering and construction norms to be enforced.

Read the Director-General's message: English, French, Spanish, Arabic, Russian, Chinese

Useful links: Natural Disaster Reduction [PDF Document]
Stephen Hill Why recovery is taking so long in Aceh (Interview)
Tsunami early warning system moves into new phase

A World of Science (April-June 2005)
A World of Science (July-September 2005) [PDF Document]
A World of Science (October-December 2005) [PDF Document]

First anniversary of the earthquake
at World Heritage city of Bam (Iran)
The inscription of Bam and its Cultural Landscape, the ancient Silk Road landmark, on UNESCO’s World Heritage List and on the World Heritage List in Danger will be celebrated in a ceremony on December 27, marking the first anniversary of the earthquake that destroyed much of the site and killed more than 26,000 people. (More)

After the earthquake (en français)
On 26 December at 5:26 am local time, a devastating earthquake killed more than a quarter of Bam’s 100,000 inhabitants, most of them in their beds. A further 15,000 or more were injured. Many of the city’s 33,000 students perished, along with one in five of Bam’s 5,400 teachers. Tens of thousands were left homeless and up to 6,000 children were orphaned. (World of Science Vol.2 N°2 p. 14)

First anniversary of the earthquake
at World Heritage city of Bam (Iran)
The inscription of Bam and its Cultural Landscape, the ancient Silk Road landmark, on UNESCO’s World Heritage List and on the World Heritage List in Danger will be celebrated in a ceremony on December 27, marking the first anniversary of the earthquake that destroyed much of the site and killed more than 26,000 people. (More)

After the earthquake (en français)
On 26 December at 5:26 am local time, a devastating earthquake killed more than a quarter of Bam’s 100,000 inhabitants, most of them in their beds. A further 15,000 or more were injured. Many of the city’s 33,000 students perished, along with one in five of Bam’s 5,400 teachers. Tens of thousands were left homeless and up to 6,000 children were orphaned. (World of Science Vol.2 N°2 p. 14)

World Conference on Disaster Reduction, 18-22 January 2005, Kobe, Hyogo, Japan