The International Day for Disaster Risk Reduction was set up by the United Nations in 1989 with the aim of raising awareness of governments, organizations, and citizens throughout the world to the need to carry out initiatives that contribute towards preventing disaster risks and reducing vulnerabilities, building resilience in the communities and the capacity to anticipate and respond to a serious accident or disaster. 

During the Second World Conference on  Disaster Risk Reduction held in Kobe, Hyogo in 2005 under the motto “A Safer World for All”, the 168 UN Member States in attendance, including Portugal, approved the Hyogo Declaration and the  2005-2015 Hyogo Framework for Action, which advocates setting up National Platforms to implement the various priorities set in this Framework for Action, as well as appointing national focal points for its implementation in each State.

Accordingly, to comply with the UN recommendations, in2010, Portugal formally set up, under the framework of the National Commission for Civil Protection, the National Platform for Disaster Risk Reduction – PNRRC, applied by the Sub-commission coordinated by the ANPC charged with implementing the Platform’s Activities Plan and proposing holding initiatives in the fields of the Hyogo Framework for Action, where the guidelines for 2005-2015 were set.

Portugal also attended the Third UN World Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction, which adopted the  2015-2030 Sendai Framework, around four priorities:

• understanding disaster risk
• strengthening disaster risk governance to manage disaster risk
• investing in disaster risk for resilience
• enhancing disaster preparedness for effective response 

The creation in Portugal of a National Platform for Disaster Risk Reduction is an asset as a convergence point for entities and partners whose experience and expertise are useful in the capacity to effectively deal with prevention and risk mitigation in disasters and extreme climate events.