NEW YORK, 18 June 2009: Disaster risk reduction measures must be strengthened to increase the resilience of hospitals and schools, according to a joint call issued Thursday by the United Nations Childrens Fund (UNICEF)and the World Health Organization (WHO).
According to the UN International Strategy for Disaster Reduction (UNISDR) some 236.000 people lost their lives last year in 300 disasters, while damages exceeded a staggering 180 billion US dollar.
Last years devastating earthquake in Chinas Sichuan Province claimed 88.000 lives and damaged or destroyed 11.000 hospitals. It also damaged more than 12.000 schools – 40 per cent of all schools in the area – which resulted in thousands of children being killed or injured.
UNICEF and WHO noted that some 175,000 children are affected by disasters every year, placing them among those most at risk, and jeopardizing their education.
– The school must be a safe place that protects children and defends their right to education, said Louis-Georges Arsenault, Director of the Office of Emergency Programmes for UNICEF.
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