By UN resolution 44/236 (22 December 1989), the General Assembly designated the second Wednesday of October International Day for Natural Disaster Reduction. The International Day was to be observed annually during the International Decade for Natural Disaster Reduction, 1990-1999. By resolution 64/200 of 21 December 2009 the General Assembly decided to designate 13 October as the date to commemorate the Day and to change the Day’s name to International Day for Disaster Reduction. The objective of the observance is to raise awareness how people are taking action to reduce their risk to disasters.
International Day for Disaster Risk Reduction
13 October 2011
Related News & Events
24 December 2025
IRDR adds 3 new International Centres of Excellence focused on resilience economics, multi-hazard informatics, and hydroclimatic disasters to advance science for disaster risk reduction.
23 December 2025
IRDR extends 2026 season’s greetings, highlighting 2025’s DRR partnerships, Action Plan advances, key meetings, new members, and UNDRR collaboration. It looks to post-2030 science-policy engagement, welcoming continued community involvement.
17 December 2025
Dr. Saini Yang addressed the 2025 IFEMR in Beijing, themed "Emergency Medicine: AI-Enabled Future". She emphasized integrating disaster risk reduction with planetary health, showcasing IRDR's work in Health-EDRM and collaboration with global partners to advance risk governance.
