World Disasters Report 2018 was launched by International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC), Austrian Red Cross, United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs (UNOOSA), and the Ban Ki-moon Centre for Global Citizens on November 12th, 2018 in at the Vienna International Centre in Austria.

The event featured BKMC Co-chair Ban Ki-moon, Chief Luc St-Pierre of Space Applications at UNOOSA, President Annemarie Huber-Hotz of Swiss Red Cross, Under Secretary-General Jemilah Mahmood of IFRC, and Secretary-General Verner Kerschbaum of Red Cross Austria on the panel.

Addressing his keynote, Co-chair Ban said that

“The IFRC has been a frontier at drawing attention to the world’s complex challenges and looking into the areas where emergency interventions need to be addressed and advanced.”

He underlined his appreciation to the IFRC for its dedication to

“saving lives, protecting livelihoods, strengthening recovery from disasters and crisis, enabling healthy and safe living, and promoting social inclusion and the culture of non-violence and peace.”

The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA) reported that only 97 million were selected to receive humanitarian aid out of about 134 million people in need this year. A lack of global investment in disaster relief leaves tens of millions of people exposed to preventable disaster risks. Out of 25 billion dollars required, less than 12 billion dollars have been received.

Titled “Leaving No One Behind,” the World Disasters Report 2018 emphasizes that the international humanitarian sector must do more to respond to the needs of the world’s most vulnerable people.

“The international community, states, and individuals to come together to further reach marginalized area and to give hands to people in vulnerable situations,” urged Ban.

After the launch event, Dr. Eva Poecksteiner from ORF interviewed Co-chair Ban Ki-moon asking some questions including how the international community can prevent disasters, what disasters have touched him personally, and what impact the climate change has on the world’s disasters.

Read more about the World Disasters Report 2018 here: https://media.ifrc.org/ifrc/world-disaster-report-2018/

Watch Ban’s interview with ORF here: https://tvthek.orf.at/…/Machtwechsel-in-der-Ostukr…/14395234