FINANCIAL BILL FOR DISASTERS SOARING, RELIEF FUNDS INADEQUATE FOR TASK OF ECONOMIC, SOCIAL REHABILITATION

Press Release
GA/EF/2889/

FINANCIAL BILL FOR DISASTERS SOARING, RELIEF FUNDS INADEQUATE FOR TASK OF ECONOMIC, SOCIAL REHABILITATION

CORRECTION

On page 1 of Press Release GA/EF/2889 issued 8 November, the first full paragraph should read:

It was wrong to believe that natural disasters were single physical events with catastrophic consequences; they were as much societal as physical events, the Director of the International Decade for Natural Disaster Reduction Secretariat told the Second Committee (Economic and Financial) this morning as it considered the International Decade for Natural Disaster Reduction (IDNDR).

On page 7 of the same press release, the first fill paragraph should read:

PHILIPPE BOULLE, Director of the International Decade for Natural Disaster Reduction Secretariat, introduced the reports of the Secretary-General on the Implementation of Economic and Social Council resolution 99/63 on successor arrangements to the IDNDR (document A/54/497) and on International cooperation to reduce the impact of El Niño phenomenon (document A/54/135). He said that after 10 years of the IDNDR, the view that natural disasters were single physical events with catastrophic consequences was wrong -- disaster, in out complex world, were as much societal as physical events. The effects of disasters caused serious damage to the social and economic infrastructure of developing countries in particular, and thus hampered their sustainable development processes.

* *** *