International Day for Disaster Reduction, held every 13 October, celebrates how people and communities around the world are reducing their exposure to disasters and raising awareness about the importance of reining in the risks that they face. The 2016 edition marks the launch of the new “Sendai Seven” campaign, centered on the seven targets of the Sendai Framework.

International Day for Disaster Reduction encourages every individual, community and government to take part in building more disaster resilient communities and nations.

It started in 1989, after a call by the United Nations General Assembly. The UN General Assembly sees International Day for Disaster Reduction as a way to promote a global culture of risk-awareness and disaster reduction. That includes disaster prevention, mitigation and preparedness. It was originally celebrated on the second Wednesday of October (Resolution 44/236, 22 December 1989), but after two decades the UN General Assembly formally designated 13 October as the annual date (Resolution 64/200, 21 December 2009).

The Step Up initiative began in 2011 and focused on a different group of partners every year, leading up to the Third UN World Conference for Disaster Risk Reduction in March 2015 – children and young people (2011), women and girls (2012), people living with disabilities (2013) and the ageing population (2014). The initiative concluded with the 2015 edition of International Day for Disaster Reduction, which centered on traditional, indigenous and local knowledge. The 2016 edition will center on the first of the seven targets of the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction: reducing disaster mortality.

2015: Knowledge for Life
2014: Resilience is for Life
2013: Living with Disability and Disasters
2012: Women and Girls: the [in]Visible Force of Resilience
2011: Making Children and Young People Partners for Disaster Risk Reduction
2010: My City is Getting Ready!
2009: Hospitals Safe from Disasters
2008: Disaster risk reduction is everybody’s business
2007: Challenging the world’s education authorities
2006: Disaster risk reduction begins at school
2005: Microfinance and disaster risk reduction
2004: Today’s disasters for tomorrow’s hazards
2003: Turning the tide…
2002: Sustainable mountain development
2001: Countering Disasters, Targeting Vulnerability
2000: Disaster Prevention, Education and Youth

Source: UNISDR https://www.unisdr.org/we/campaign/iddr 2016