Disaster risk reduction worldwide: IDNDR to Sendai and CDRI

Detail

Why disaster risk became a world issue

• Disasters cross borders. A large cyclone, tsunami or earthquake can cause losses that one country cannot handle alone.
• Big losses → poor countries cannot pay for relief and rebuilding → they need money, technology and experts from other countries.

• So the UN General Assembly took up the issue in 1989.

• Disaster risk reduction (DRR) means cutting the chance of harm before a hazard strikes. It works through planning, safer buildings, early warning and preparing people, so the work is not only relief after the event.

International Decade for Natural Disaster Reduction (IDNDR)

• IDNDR: a UN "decade" in which countries agreed to work together to reduce deaths and losses from natural hazards.
• It was declared by UN General Assembly resolution 44/236 (1989).
• Period: the UN decade ran 1990-1999 (NCERT: 1990-2000).
• Its main event at the halfway point was the Yokohama conference (1994).

Yokohama Strategy and Plan of Action for a Safer World (1994)

• Yokohama Strategy: the first global plan for disaster reduction. It was adopted at the World Conference on Natural Disaster Reduction, held at Yokohama, Japan, on 23-27 May 1994.
• Its four main principles:
• Sovereign responsibility: each country has a duty to protect its own citizens from disasters.
• Priority to the most vulnerable: developing countries, least developed countries (LDCs), landlocked countries and small island states get special attention.
• National capacity: each country should build its own capacity and pass laws for prevention, mitigation and preparedness. NGOs and local communities should take part.
  • Mitigation means reducing the effect of a hazard, for example through earthquake-safe buildings or embankments.

• Regional and international cooperation: countries should help one another with capacity building, technology and information sharing, and resource mobilisation (raising money and materials).

• Its limit: it still treated disasters mainly as events to respond to. Later frameworks moved towards reducing risk itself.

From UNISDR to UNDRR

• International Strategy for Disaster Reduction (ISDR, 2000): this UN strategy took over from IDNDR once the decade ended. Its office, UNISDR, coordinates DRR across the UN system.
• UNISDR has since been renamed UNDRR (UN Office for Disaster Risk Reduction). UNDRR looks after the Sendai Framework.

Hyogo Framework for Action (HFA), 2005-2015

• Hyogo Framework for Action: a 10-year global DRR plan. It was adopted at Kobe, Hyogo Prefecture, Japan, in January 2005.

• The meeting came just weeks after the 26 December 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami, which struck India, Sri Lanka, Indonesia and Thailand.

• Its aim was to build resilience, meaning the ability of nations and communities to absorb a shock and recover.

• Five priorities for action: 1. Make DRR a national and local priority, backed by strong institutions. 2. Identify, assess and monitor risks, and improve early warning. 3. Use knowledge, innovation and education to build a culture of safety. 4. Reduce the underlying risk factors, such as poor land use and weak buildings. 5. Strengthen preparedness for effective response at all levels.

Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction, 2015-2030

• Sendai Framework: the current global plan to prevent new risk and reduce existing risk. It was adopted at the Third UN World Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction at Sendai, Japan, on 18 March 2015, after long negotiations [2][3][4].
• Main shift: it moves from managing disasters (responding after the event) to managing disaster risk (acting before the event).
• Four priorities for action [2][3]:

No.	Priority	In simple words
1	Understanding disaster risk	Know the hazard, who is exposed and how weak they are (vulnerability)
2	Strengthening disaster risk governance	Clear laws, institutions and roles at all levels
3	Investing in DRR for resilience	Spend on safer buildings, insurance and protecting ecosystems
4	Enhancing preparedness and "Build Back Better"	Be ready to respond, and rebuild stronger than before

• "Build Back Better" means using recovery and reconstruction to make places safer than they were before the disaster.
• Seven global targets (a-g) to be met over 15 years [3]:
• Reduce four things:
  • (a) disaster deaths (mortality)
  • (b) the number of people affected
  • (c) economic loss, measured against world GDP
  • (d) damage to critical infrastructure and disruption of basic services such as health and education

• Increase three things:

  • (e) the number of countries with national and local DRR strategies. This target had an earlier deadline of 2020 [3].
  • (f) international cooperation with developing countries
  • (g) access to multi-hazard early warning systems and disaster risk information

• Monitoring: progress on the seven targets is measured through 38 indicators, reported on the Sendai Framework Monitor [3][5].

• The 2015 trio: Sendai (March 2015), the SDGs (September 2015) and the Paris Agreement (December 2015). All three aim to reduce climate and disaster risk, so countries plan for them together.

Feature	Yokohama (1994)	Hyogo (2005-15)	Sendai (2015-30)
Place	Yokohama, Japan	Kobe, Hyogo, Japan	Sendai, Japan
Trigger or context	Halfway point of IDNDR	2004 Indian Ocean tsunami	End of HFA; the 2015 trio
Structure	Principles and plan of action	5 priorities	4 priorities + 7 targets
Focus	Response and preparedness	Building resilience	Managing risk

UN Early Warnings for All (EW4All)

• Early Warnings for All is a UN Secretary-General initiative launched in 2022. Its aim is that every person on Earth is protected by multi-hazard early warning systems by 2027 [6].
• Multi-hazard early warning system (MHEWS): one system that warns about several hazards (cyclone, flood, heatwave and others) and tells people what to do.
• Progress (2025): a record 119 countries (60% of all countries) reported having an MHEWS. This is 113% more than ten years earlier [7].
• Gap: only 43% of small island developing States (SIDS) reported having such systems (2025) [7].
• It directly serves Sendai Target (g).

Coalition for Disaster Resilient Infrastructure (CDRI)

• CDRI: a global partnership that works to make infrastructure able to withstand climate change and disasters.
• It was launched by India's Prime Minister at the UN Climate Action Summit, New York, in September 2019 [8].

• Its secretariat is in New Delhi.

• Who belongs: national governments, UN agencies and programmes, multilateral development banks, financing bodies, the private sector and academia [8].

• Sectors: power, transport, telecom, health and urban infrastructure.

• Why it matters: a disaster damages a power grid or a road → hospitals, water supply and businesses stop working → losses far exceed the direct damage.

• Legal status:

• In 2022 the Union Cabinet classed CDRI as an "International Organization". India then signed a Headquarters Agreement (HQA) giving CDRI exemptions, immunities and privileges under the United Nations (Privileges & Immunities) Act, 1947 [9].

• The Cabinet approved ratification of the HQA in 2023 [10].

• Membership: 47 member countries as of October 2024 [11].

• France joined in July 2020. It was co-chair with India for April 2024-March 2026 [12].

• IRIS (Infrastructure for Resilient Island States, 2021): a CDRI programme for small island developing states, which face sea-level rise and cyclones.

• In India: the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) and CDRI have released a roadmap to make India's telecom network more resilient [13].
• ICDRI: CDRI's yearly International Conference on Disaster Resilient Infrastructure. Its 6th edition was held in 2024 [14].

India's other global DRR initiatives

• PM's Ten-Point Agenda on DRR: announced at the Asian Ministerial Conference on DRR (AMCDRR), New Delhi, November 2016 [15][16]. The ten points: 1. Bring disaster risk management into all development sectors. 2. Provide risk coverage for all, from poor households to SMEs, multinationals and nation states. 3. Encourage women's leadership and involvement in DRR. 4. Invest in global risk mapping. 5. Use technology to make DRR efforts more effective. 6. Build a network of universities working on DRR. 7. Use the opportunities offered by social media and mobile technologies. 8. Build on local capacity and initiative. 9. Learn from every disaster, so no chance to learn is wasted. 10. Bring more cohesion to the international response to disasters.

• G20 Disaster Risk Reduction Working Group (DRRWG): the first-ever G20 working group on DRR, set up under India's G20 presidency (2023) [17].

• Meetings:
  • Gandhinagar, Gujarat (30 March-1 April 2023)
  • Mumbai, Maharashtra (23-25 May 2023)
  • Chennai, Tamil Nadu (24-26 July 2023) [17][18]

• Five G20 priorities, set within the Sendai Framework [17]:

  1. Global coverage of early warning systems
  2. Disaster- and climate-resilient infrastructure
  3. National financial frameworks for DRR
  4. Stronger national and global disaster response systems
  5. Ecosystem-based approaches to DRR

• Regional role: India sent a high-level delegation to the Asia-Pacific Ministerial Conference on DRR (APMCDRR) 2024 at Manila, Philippines [11].

Prelims Hooks

• IDNDR was declared by UNGA resolution 44/236 (1989). The UN decade ran 1990-1999 (NCERT: 1990-2000).
• Order of the frameworks: Yokohama (1994) → ISDR/UNISDR (2000) → Hyogo (2005) → Sendai (2015). All three conferences were held in Japan.
• The Yokohama Strategy gives priority to developing countries, LDCs, landlocked countries and small island states.
• Hyogo has 5 priorities. Sendai has 4 priorities and 7 targets, tracked through 38 indicators. Trap: do not swap these numbers.
• Sendai was adopted on 18 March 2015. It is a voluntary, non-binding framework, unlike the Paris Agreement.
• Sendai's target (e) on national and local DRR strategies had a 2020 deadline. The other targets run to 2030.
• CDRI: launched September 2019 in New York, secretariat in New Delhi. It has been an "International Organization" under Indian law since 2022. IRIS (2021) is its programme for small island states.
• EW4All: universal early-warning coverage by 2027. 119 countries reported an MHEWS in 2025.
• PM's Ten-Point Agenda: AMCDRR, New Delhi, 2016. The first G20 DRR Working Group was set up in 2023 under India's presidency.

Mains Points

• From response to risk:
• Yokohama focused on preparedness and response.
• Hyogo focused on building resilience.
• Sendai focuses on managing risk.

• India's own laws followed the same path: relief manuals → DM Act 2005 → a national plan aligned with Sendai. Use this arc in GS-III answers on disaster management.

• India as a DRR leader:

• CDRI (an international organisation hosted in New Delhi, with 47 member countries in 2024)
• the Ten-Point Agenda (2016)
• the G20 DRRWG (2023)

• These project India as a "first responder" and soft power in the Indian Ocean and among SIDS, and support South-South cooperation.

• Resilient infrastructure is development:

• Damage to power, telecom and transport causes cascading losses.
• Examples: telecom outages in coastal Odisha and Andhra Pradesh during cyclones, and floods hitting rail and road links.

• So climate-proofing infrastructure supports both Sendai Target (d) and SDG 9.

• Gaps in implementation:

• Early warnings still do not reach everyone, especially in SIDS and LDCs.
• Disaster loss data is weak.
• Local governments have limited capacity.
• Way forward: "last-mile" warnings, risk insurance, community-based DRR, and linking DRR with climate adaptation (the 2015 trio).