The UNDRR chief also highlighted the lack of funding for cities and towns to engage in the work of building resilience to disasters.

She referenced a proposal to create a “marketplace” for greater access to funding and more engagement with the private sector, an initiative that is under discussion with the World Bank.

“This is all about the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development for achieving the SDGs. We are delighted that there is a very strong demand from the cities themselves to continue this campaign and we will continue to work with long term partners including ICLEI and UCLG,” she said.

She shared with the audience, the story of how Kisumua in Kenya, a city of one million people joined the MCR Campaign after the city manager Doris Ombara, went to Sendai in 2015 to participate in the World Conference which adopted the global plan to reduce disaster losses, the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction.

“Kisumu became a member of the Making Cities Resilient Campaign, and when I visited Kisumu last year, Doris told me that when she first took on the job, she felt overwhelmed by the number of fires and floods the city was exposed to but she managed to make great progress since then.

“Last Christmas about 10,000 people were displaced but Doris pointed out that 50,000 people would have had to leave their homes if they had not put in place an early warning system and expanded the system of drainage canals.

“These are the practical actions that take place at the local level to build resilience to disasters. We are moving now from a focus on advocacy to implementation. “