Brief information on the activity of United Nations International Strategy for Disaster Reduction (UN/ISDR) in Central Asia
UN/ISDR secretariat opened its office in Central Asia in August 2004. UN/ISDR office located in Dushanbe (Tajikistan) is a regional one and covers all five republics of Central Asia: Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan.
The United Nations International Strategy for Disaster Reduction is the focal point in the UN system aiming at building disaster resilient communities by promoting increased awareness of the importance of disaster reduction as an integral component of sustainable development, with the goal of reducing human, social, economic and environmental losses due to natural hazards and related technological and environmental disasters. UN/ISDR is an international data center that collects information on disaster reduction, develops campaigns on raising public awareness and publishes articles, booklets and other materials on disaster risk reduction. UN/ISDR Secretariat is based in Geneva.
UN/ISDR Regional Office in Central Asia works to facilitate the promotion of Hyogo Framework for Action guiding principles in Central Asian States to strengthen coordination both at the regional and national levels.
The main areas of UN/ISDR activity both in Tajikistan and other Central Asian states are as follows:

Support and Implementation of Hyogo Framework for Action (HFA) for the period of 2005-2015. HFA was approved and adopted in 2005 in Kobe (Japan) by 168 states including Tajikistan. Its main goal is "Building the resilience of nations and communities to disasters". Participants of theSecond World Conference on Disaster Reduction arrived at the unanimous opinion that disaster risk reduction is the most effective approach to resolving disaster-related problems. Under this program component, UN/ISDR supports the establishment of national platforms and the regional platform in Central Asian region.

Seismic Safety – is the second component of UN/ISDR activity in Tajikistan. Within the framework of this component a regional conference on “Seismic Risk Reduction for Urban Areas” was held on July 19-20, 2007, with the participation of leading seismologists and other scientists of Tajikistan and other Central Asian states. In particular, ISDR participates in the implementation of UNDP project on “Seismic Risk Reduction for the city of Dushanbe” and supports activities of the Working Group in the development of guidelines for the population on building residential dwellings from local materials. Further plans, in accordance with Tajik Government request, may include support in the development of the National Seismic Risk Reduction Strategy for the Republic of Tajikistan.

Knowledge network Component is being successfully implemented in Central Asia during the recent two years. It is aimed at the reactivation of old and the establishment of new linkages in the sphere of DRR between scientific institutions, Institutes of the Academy of Sciences and Central Asian Universities. A number of conferences and training workshops have been conducted, many training materials, popular booklets and manuals have been published for students of technical universities, NGOs and communities.

Education Component  is aimed at the integration of disaster risk reduction in school curricula (in close collaboration with Committee for Emergency Situations and Civil Defense under the Government of the Republic of Tajikistan, UNDP Tajikistan and the Ministry of Education of the Republic of Tajikistan).

In May 2007, UN/ISDR supported the activity of the Committee for Emergency Situations and Civil Defense under the Government of the Republic of Tajikistan on convening the Second International Conference on Lake Sarez Problems. The project implemented in 2000-2006 under the auspices of the World Bank helped identify a number of problems that require additional actions, including further development of the region and use of Sarez Lake resources. Success of the Conference initiated donor support including the interest to such interrelated problems as, for example, dam safety.

UN/ISDR considers the support of national governments in the implementation of national strategies for disaster reduction to be one of their primary tasks and is ready to assist in the organization of forums, conferences and other activities aimed at the achievement of this goal. At the same time, ISDR together with other UN agencies aims at strengthening regional cooperation in Central Asia that will significantly promote solution of vital problems that have to do with waste disposal, dam safety, overcoming environmental problems and issues regarding water resources.

Sub-Office Mandate

• Increase public awareness to understand risk, vulnerability and disaster reduction
• Obtain commitment from public authorities to implement disaster reduction policies and actions
• Stimulate interdisciplinary and inter-sector partnerships, including the expansion of risk reduction networks
• Improve scientific knowledge about disaster reduction

Regional coverage:

Five countries of Central Asia: Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan

Projects:

DIPECHO III and DIPECHO IV

Publications:

• Lake Sarez: Latest achievement and unsolved problems
• 20 Success Stories of disaster risk reduction from the experience of Central Asia
• A guide to community-based disaster risk reduction in Central Asia
• Earthquakes and safer building strategies
• Landslides and safer building strategies
• Floods and mudflows and safer building strategies
• Trainers Guide on Safer Building Strategies for technical universities
• My Favorite Poplar (child book)
• Miniature book editions: (a) What we should know of earthquakes if we live in a seismic-prone area; (b) Earthquakes: Five steps to risk reduction (together with UNDP Kazakhstan)