The International Day for Disaster Risk Reduction was established by the United Nations General Assembly in 1989 to promote global awareness and encourage efforts to reduce disaster risks.

This year’s theme, Resilience Starts At Home, highlights the role households play in building safer and more resilient communities and that disaster risk reduction is not solely the responsibility of government alone, but a shared responsibility involving individuals, families, communities and relevant institutions.

However; across the world, the negative impact of disasters and the dangers it poses has remained a major concern to individuals, communities, organizations and government.

According to the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction, about 1.23 million people lost their lives in major recorded disasters worldwide between 2000 and 2019. While global economic losses from disasters ran into trillions of dollars.

In Nigeria, the impact of climate change has increased disaster including natural and man-made disasters across States of the country which underscore the urgent need for early warnings, effective emergency response and greater public awareness of disaster risks.

Has there been effort by the authorities to adopt and implement disaster management strategies in the country:   A disaster management expert, Sir Christopher Igwe explains:

In all, building disaster resilience begins with the choices we make in our homes and extends to the collective efforts of our communities and institutions.

What should be done to adequately check the increasing disasters in society?  Sir igwe again   speaks

As we commemorate this event today, all hands must be on deck through awareness and capacity building among the people to prevent avoidable disasters.