Count Me In! I pledge to promote and report on the Third UN World Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction

• We have to admit the truth that disaster is unavoidable. After the worst flood of Thailand in 2011, Thai people learned and admitted this truth more and more. As a disaster journalist of Thai PBS, I pay more attention to cover how to be more resilient to disaster issue. Since we still encounter severe flood and drought in many area of our country every year. Disaster Risk Reduction or DRR is a key word issue for Thai journalists from now on. I believe that we should communicate more on how to live with disaster, not to fight with it.
  Darin Klong–ugkara

• Women are terribly affected by disasters. Disasters are making them more vulnerable and dependent. I hope that the Third UN World Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction will be an opportunity to find solutions for a more resilient world.
  Awa Diedhiou

• The statistics about Africa’s boom times will remain far from the realities that we experience, if they do not capture disaster risk reduction as a key element of sustainable development. The World Conference is an opportunity to learn from other people’s experience.
  David Owino

• Disasters in whatever form are a threat to us in the small islands in the Pacific. It can wipe out a whole community, even a whole nation. There is a real need for my people to understand that disasters can be reduced if they take their governments to task to ensure any form of development must include disaster risk reduction measures.
  Makereta–Komai

• No part of the world is immune to natural disasters. I think it is important for people to be aware of the particular risks where they live and have a plan of action. Education, preparation and information saves lives.
  Mari Ramos

• Malawi is one the countries often hit by disaster ranging from floods, heavy storms and massive thunder storms. As a journalist covering environmental issues including disasters at a National Broadcasting station in Malawi, I believe the Third UN World Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction which is likely to bring all players under one roof to share experiences and future action plans, will be a mile stone and rare opportunity that will accord me a global perspective and action processes of the issues for competent reporting on the ground.
  Mathews Malata

• Every year I cover large and small disasters that devastate Southeast Asia. With urbanization and a changing climate, we can't avoid them but I hope we will learn to reduce the loss and damages individuals and countries suffer.
  Thin Leiwin

• Freelance journalist, Climate News Network., and former member of the UK committee for the UN Decade of Natural Disaster Reduction. Why did we ever call them natural disasters? Meteorological disaster stories could be linked to climate change, or political corruption, or poverty, ignorance and inequality. Geophysical disaster stories can be about the research that wasn’t done, or the engineering advice that was neglected or the political myopia that put the lives of thousands at risk. For the journalist, every disaster story opens a window on the world we live in, and the Third UN World Conference on Disaster Reduction promises to be as important as any political summit, or any climate conference because it embraces so many aspects of society. Even better, it could save lives.
  Tim Radford

• Swazi women and children are dying due to starvation caused by persistent drought. I hope that the Third UN World Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction will come up with a solution.
  Winile Mavuso

• Given what I've written on trajectories for population growth and investment in areas, rich and poor, prone to potent climatic or geologic hazards, it'd be irresponsible for me not to highlight and cover the next U.N. conference on disaster risk reduction. (This is particularly true because I write for the Opinion side of The Times, where I get to set my own priorities and state what's on my mind.) Since I created Dot Earth for The Times in 2007, my beat has been a simple question: How do we head toward 9 billion people with the fewest regrets? With that question in mind, I can't think of a more important issue and opportunity than finding ways to shift investment, design and education norms in ways that can mitigate, ahead of time, the suffering and losses that come when a great earthquake or mega drought or other predictable, but rare, calamity unfolds. UNISDE created a marvelous http://stopdisastersgame.org Website where anyone can plan for a disaster and learn what strategies work best. But in real life, this is no game given the huge stakes.
  Andrew Revkin

• Typhoon Haiyan devastated my family's hometown Palo, as a journalist covering disasters I processed them as a personal loss as well as a professional challenge. So much more could have been done to adequately prepare people, experts knew what was coming. Now is the time to save lives and livelihoods, to prepare properly for disasters.
  Veronica Pedrosa

• Disaster is one of the challenges for poverty reduction in my country. Hope to get some points to develop resilience community in the Third UN World Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction in 2015.
  Aye Phyu

• Mozambique faces floods and drought every year. Moreover, this year the National Institute of Disaster Management has activated 800 risk management committees across the country to mitigate the effects of floods. So I think that the participation of the Jornal domingo (Sunday newspaper) can be crucial to strengthening the dissemination of information on disaster risk reduction.
  Jorge Ernesto Rungo

• Nepal is one of the countries most at disaster risk, especially from earthquake and flood risks. As a journalist working since 1993 in the field of disaster risk reduction, I hope that the Third UN World Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction will bring solutions and offer a good plan of action for countries to take action.
  Shreeram Singh Basnet

• I strongly agree with a media colleague who told a recent gathering of journalism students here in Metro Manila that journalism is also public service. Aside from news reporting, media practitioners can help engage communities, especially those in poverty-stricken areas, in public and private sector efforts to achieve resilience to both man-made and natural disasters. Since climate change is not just an environmental issue but also a serious threat to future generations, I believe it is part of media's responsibilities to help build a safer and disaster-resilient Philippines.
  Jerry E. Esplanada

• The steps taken by Bangladesh in recent years to forewarn people and reduce the impact of disaster and storms proves that action can be taken avert the most severe outcomes from such tragic events. This is a lesson all countries in the region can learn from.
  Ron Corben