Buenos Aires, Argentina joins the Global Campaign for Resilient Cities

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina, December 12, 2016 - In order to address disaster risk management as a development policy by strengthening resilience at the local level and in line with the Sendai Framework, the government of the province of Buenos Aires, Argentina joined the 3,461 cities around the world participating in the Global Campaign "Making Cities Resilient: My City is Getting Ready!" promoted by the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR) since 2010.

A United Nations study reported that in the last 30 years, over 100,000 events occurred in Buenos Aires, a city with more than 2.965 million inhabitants. These events affected a population comparable to the size of that of El Salvador.

The Making Cities Resilient campaign, involving 1,672 cities in the Americas, promotes the integration of a generic framework for risk reduction that identifies good practices and tools that are already being used in several cities with the same objective: to become a resilient city.

In response to joining the campaign, Virginia Laino, the provincial director of risk and emergency management, stressed the importance of the province adopting the risk strategy in line with the international strategy. "We need to know the environmental risks in order to articulate joint strategies that help prevent and avoid damages,” adding that "it is also very important that municipalities are active and become resilient cities."

For its part, the White Helmets Commission, a body of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, understands that the development of the Resilient Cities Programme, promoted as an international focal point for UNDRR in Argentina, constitutes an opportunity and a challenge.

Vice President of the White Helmets Commission Dr. Mario Goicoechea stressed: “The creation of Resilient Cities is very important, that is why Foreign Minister Susana Malcorra asked me to convey her support."

The signing of the accession to the Resilient Cities Campaign was carried out within the framework of the meeting on Risk Management and Emergencies, which had as objective to discuss the policies of disaster risk reduction. More than 250 officials, politicians, White Helmets authorities and United Nations personnel participated in the event, held at the seat of the Buenos Aires Government, with the participation of the Regional Officer, Mr. Raúl Salazar, representing the Head of the UNDRR Regional Office for the Americas, Mr. Ricardo Mena.

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Original note

Global Making Cities Resilient Campaign

Government of Buenos Aires