The International Day for Disaster Reduction (IDDR) was adopted in 1989 by the UN General Assembly. The scope of this international Day is to encourage citizen, but in particular governments, to take part in shaping and building more disaster-resilient communities, and also to promote a global culture of risk-awareness and disaster reduction. The UN General Assembly designated 13^th October as the date to commemorate the IDDR Day (reference: UN Resolution n. A/RES/64/200).

But it was only In 2002 the General Assembly of the UN, by a further resolution, decided to maintain the annual observance.

In 2015 at the Third UN World Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction in Sendai, Japan, the international community was reminded that disasters can hit hard our societies and not only cause loss of lives but also social and economic devastations. The Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction is people-focused and action-oriented in its approach to disaster risk reduction, and its principles apply to both risks of large-scale disasters and of small-scale disasters which can be caused by man-made, or by natural hazards, naturally these risks also include biological hazards risks.

Many disasters are exacerbated by climate change, not to mention the fact that they have a negative impact on investments and in particular in sustainable development and the desired outcomes.