The HFA-Pedia

When we consider the most powerful tools at our disposal for reducing the risk of disasters and the resulting negative effects, whether in terms of loss of life or livelihoods or even loss of investments made to processes of sustainable development, one factor that inevitably comes to mind is information. Information, the sharing and exchange of knowledge, experience and lessons learned; the who, when, where and how to assist us in reducing our vulnerability and to respond to emergency situations in a timely and appropriate fashion so as to diminish our exposure and ensure proper response, are all factors that could mean the difference when it matters most.

It is with this in mind that the UNISDR is pleased to announce a new tool that we feel certain will assist individuals from all sectors of society in their pursuit of disaster risk reduction information and a greater understanding of efforts towards implementing the Hyogo Framework for Action as the internationally agreed upon framework for building the resilience of communities and nations to disaster risk.

This new tool, the HFA-Pedia, marks a significant advance towards increased awareness, the open exchange of relevant and timely information, as well as a facilitating mechanism for more analytical and significant HFA reporting at both the country and the regional level. Through the use of MediaWiki open source software, a wealth of HFA-related information is being made available to interested parties from all sectors of society, and in an easy to use and interactive way. This, in turn, is making it easier for the DRR community to share important information, link it to country profiles, update contact data and meet many other information needs.

Based upon two main axes, namely, geographic and thematic; HFA-Pedia is designed to facilitate the search of relevant information in a manner that will satisfy the information needs of virtually all users from all levels and sectors of society.

Through its initial portal, users can choose to explore either the English or Spanish version of the system that will lead them to a simplified user menu for those wishing to explore or see what’s new. For more advanced users, an easy-to-use search engine can quickly lead the user to more precise information of interest.

Currently hosting National Pages for all the countries and territories belonging to the Americas region, as well as pages of thematic and institutional interest, HFA-Pedia is designed for continuous growth and evolution in a way that can accommodate different geographical regions and languages, as well as its own exponential growth.

Whether you are interested in country-specific information, information surrounding a particular issue of interest, or wish to merely expand your knowledge of the HFA, HFA-Pedia allows you to consult as well as edit existing pages or create new pages that are of interest to you.

As with any information system however, the sum of its contents depend upon the character of its inputs and the collaboration of its user community. As such, in our continuous efforts to make information more readily available, increase the exchange of data and information, assist governments and individuals to enhance their knowledge base and facilitate more significant and analytical reporting and information exchange, we invite you to make use of this new online interactive tool and contribute to the new generation of information management as it relates to disaster risk reduction and the implementation of the HFA.

To access HFA-Pedia, please visit the following link:
http://hfa.html.

For further information, please write to us at:
hfa@eird.org.