Brief information on the activity of United Nations International Strategy for Disaster Reduction (UN/ISDR) in the ECO region  

UN/ISDR secretariat opened its ECO Liaison Office in February 2007. UN/ISDR office located in Tehran (Islamic Republic of Iran) is a regional one and covers all 10 member states of Economic Cooperation Organization (ECO): 1- Afghanistan,2- Azerbaijan,3- Iran, 4-Kazakhstan,5- Kyrgyzstan, 6- Pakistan, 7-Tajikistan,8- Turkey, 9-Turkmenistan 10- 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 Liaison Office for the ECO region works to facilitate the promotion of disaster Risk Reduction and support the implementation of Hyogo Framework for Action among ECO member States and to strengthen coordination both at the regional and national levels.

Office Objectives in the ECO region

• 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;
• Support the implementation of HFA and National Platforms on DRR;
• Support the Asian Seismic Risk Reduction Center (ASRC).

The main areas of UN/ISDR activities among ECO states are as follows:

1- Support and Implementation of Hyogo Framework for Action (HFA) and promotion of Disaster Risk Reduction in the region: Under this program component, UN/ISDR supports the establishment of national platforms in ECO region. A MOU was singed by Mr. Briceno, the Director of UNISDR and Mr. Khorshid Anwar on 9th May 2007 in order to establish a joint partnership to promote DRR in the ECO region.

 2- Seismic Risk Reduction – is the second component of UN/ISDR activity in the ECO region. Within the framework of this component a regional center on seismic risk reduction entitled “Asian Seismic Risk Reduction Center” was launched in Tehran on 9th May 2007. A conference on “Seismic Risk Reduction for Urban Areas” was also held on July 19-20, 2007, by ISDR office in Tajikistan with the participation of leading seismologists and other scientists of Tajikistan and other Central Asian states.

3- Knowledge network Component is another priority of work for ISDR Liaison Office in Tehran. It is aimed at the reactivation of old and the establishment of new linkages in the sphere of DRR, in particular SRR between scientific institutions, Institutes of the Academy of Sciences and ECO Universities. A number of conferences and training workshops are considered to be conducted in this regard.

4- Education and Advocacy Component is also aimed at the integration of disaster risk reduction in school and universities curricula. 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 ECO region.

Regional coverage:

Ten countries of the ECO region: 1- Afghanistan,2- Azerbaijan,3- Iran, 4-Kazakhstan,5- Kyrgyzstan, 6- Pakistan, 7-Tajikistan,8- Turkey, 9-Turkmenistan 10- Uzbekistan

Current & Future Activities:

1. Launching ASRC on 9th May 2007
2. Singing a MOU with ECO Secretariat: The MOU which was singed on 9th May 2007, aimed to promote disaster risk reduction within the ECO region.
3. Supporting National Platforms on Disaster Risk Reduction:  In this line, Mr. Briceno, the Director of ISDR attended the fifth session of National Platform of Iran on 12th May 2007.
4. Anniversary of the International Day of Disaster Risk Reduction on second Wednesday of October: A joint press conference was held in October 2007, with participation of relevant UN agencies to celebrate International Day on DRR.
5. Anniversary of the Global Campaign on hospital safety in the ECO region:  A joint ISDR-ECO press conference with the presence of ECO member states was held in January 2008 to celebrate the launch of the campaign for the ECO region.
6. Second ECO conference on DRR: ISDR Office supported ECO in holding its second conference on DRR in October 2007 in Islamabad, Pakistan.