TEHRAN – Iran is marking Disaster Risk Reduction Week from October 13 to 19, focusing on the importance of improving the health of individuals, families, and the safety of homes, raising public awareness, and strengthening family economic resilience before the disaster strikes.

The beginning of the week coincided with the International Disaster Risk Reduction Day, IRNA reported.
The days of the week highlight the following topics:
Tuesday, October 13, ‘healthy individual, the cornerstone of societal resilience’
Wednesday, October 14, ‘family mental health, the first step towards resilience’
Thursday, October 15, ‘a safe and resilient home for everyone’
Friday, October 16, ‘raising social children, a resilient generation’
Saturday, October 17, ‘a resilient home, simple steps to take from now on’
Sunday, October 18, ‘resilience culture, training everyone’
Monday, October 19, ‘family economy, a resilient family’

The International Day for Disaster Risk Reduction was started in 1989, after a call by the United Nations General Assembly for a day to promote a global culture of risk-awareness and disaster reduction. Held every 13 October, the day 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.

Themed ‘Resilience Starts at Home’, this year the day highlights that everyone deserves a home that is safe, affordable and able to withstand the hazards around it. There’s no place like home. It is where we seek comfort, safety and shelter. But when floods rise, extreme heat takes hold or other hazards strike, the place meant to protect us can become the frontline of disaster.

Making that possible takes more than individual preparedness. Governments need safer planning and building standards; businesses must put long-term safety before short-term gains; and communities need information, resources, and a voice in decisions about where and how they live.

Around the world, solutions are already taking shape — from families moving to safer homes in the Philippines to centuries-old earthen building techniques keeping homes cooler across West Africa.
Because resilience is not only about rebuilding after disaster. It starts before disaster strikes, and it starts at home.

UNESCO chair inaugurated

In September, Minister of Science, Research, and Technology Hossein Simaei-Sarraf, and the Secretary-General of Iran’s National Commission for UNESCO, Hassan Fartousi, inaugurated the UNESCO Chair in Disaster Risk Reduction and Resilience Engineering at Kharazmi University.

The chair is established on a synergistic approach aligned with the Sendai Global Framework for Risk Reduction, the Sustainable Development Goals, and UNESCO’s approaches to expanding education, science, technology, knowledge exchange, climate considerations, and the development of sustainable communities, msrt.ir reported.

According to Kharazmi University, the establishment of the chair represents a scientific and strategic imperative, given the current national and regional conditions in the country, such as climate change, the growing complexity of hazards, the expansion of human settlements, technological and human-induced risks, and the cascading effects of disasters.

This UNESCO Chair develops effective methods to assess and mitigate risks from natural hazards to existing and new school infrastructure, contributing to improved equitable access to safe learning environments for children in vulnerable communities, ensuring continuity of education services, and reducing life losses. The Chair has created a community for resilience engineering exceeding 3,000 members from more than 100 countries, instrumental in sharing knowledge to support disaster risk reduction initiatives.

MT/MG