No country can afford to ignore the lessons of the earthquakes in Chile and Haiti. We cannot stop such disasters from happening. But we can dramatically reduce their impact, if the right disaster risk reduction measures are taken in advance.

A week ago I visited Chile’s earthquake zone and saw how countless lives were saved because Chile’s leaders had learned the lessons of the past and heeded the warnings of crises to come.

21 March 2010 – Visiting Gaza today, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon expressed his solidarity with the people of the area, just over one year after the end of the deadly conflict.

“Every day they show heroism and quiet courage and this is an inspiration,” Mr. Ban said while visiting the Khan Younis section of Gaza.

The people of the area, he said, “are striving to provide for their families amid unacceptable, unsustainable conditions.”

19 March 2010 – The diplomatic Quartet promoting Middle East peace – comprising the United Nations, European Union, United States and Russia – today called on the Israeli and Palestinian sides to resume negotiations as soon as possible with the aim of reaching a settlement within two years.

16 March 2010 – With only five years left until the 2015 deadline to achieve the Millennium Development Goals, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon is calling for the adoption of a global action agenda for accelerating progress towards the Goals, when world leaders meet at a UN Summit in New York in September.

“We must not fail the billions who look to the international community to fulfil the promise of the Millennium Declaration for a better world. Let us meet in September to keep the promise,” Mr. Ban says in his report, Keeping the Promise, issued today.

15 March 2010 – With five years to go before the deadline for halving the number of people without access to safe drinking water and basic sanitation, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and the World Health Organization (WHO) warn in a report released today that without stepped up efforts, nearly one billion people will be overlooked.