PRESS RELEASE (9 May 2019)
MEDIA ADVISORY – MULTI-HAZARD EARLY WARNING CONFERENCE, WMO Headquarters 13-14 MAY 2019
Climate change, extreme weather, population increase and urbanization means that growing numbers of people are vulnerable to hazards such as tropical cyclones, floods and extreme heat. Improved early warning systems and more coordinated disaster risk reduction are more important than ever before.
An international conference will therefore seek to inject new urgency into the drive to improve warnings for an interlocking range of hazards and to translate these warnings into effective action on the ground.
The Second Multi-Hazard Early Warning Conference takes place in Geneva, Switzerland, on 13-14 May. It is organized by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR) and a consortium of international partners. It follows an inaugural conference in 2017 and feeds into the 2019 Global Platform for Disaster Risk Reduction.
The conference takes place as two unprecedented back-to-back tropical cyclones in Mozambique and a major cyclonic storm in India underline, yet again, the need for coordinated disaster risk reduction strategies, including strong early warning systems which reach the people who need them most.
The conference, which takes place at WMO headquarters, will examine recentadvances in multi-hazard early warning systems and future priorities.
Conference themes include:
- Ensuring that warnings reach the last mile
- Translating early warnings into early action
- Science, technology and innovation
- Socio-economic benefits
- Governance issues
The sessions are open to all accredited journalists.
Hashtags #EarlyWarning #GP2019Geneva
Please contact Clare Nullis cnullis@wmo.int for more details and for interview requests.