The theme for the 2025 International Day for Disaster Risk Reduction (IDDRR), which is commemorated on 13 October, is “Fund Resilience, Not Disasters”. This theme highlights the urgent need to address the escalating costs of disasters by shifting focus from reactive response to proactive investments in disaster risk reduction.

Specifically, building on the outcomes of the Oslo Policy Forum, the 2025 IDDRR will emphasize two key calls to action:

1. Increase funding for disaster risk reduction, within public budgets and international assistance.
2. Ensure all public development and private sector investments are risk-informed and resilient.

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The International Day for Disaster Risk Reduction was started in 1989, after a call by the United Nations General Assembly for a day to promote a global culture of risk-awareness and disaster reduction. Held every 13 October, the day celebrates how people and communities around the world are reducing their exposure to disasters and raising awareness about the importance of reining in the risks that they face.

In 2015 at the Third UN World Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction in Sendai, Japan, the international community was reminded that disasters hit hardest at the local level with the potential to cause loss of life and great social and economic upheaval. Sudden onset disasters displace millions of people every year. Disasters, many of which are exacerbated by climate change, have a negative impact on investment in sustainable development and the desired outcomes.

It is also at the local level that capacities need to be strengthened urgently. The Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction is people-focussed and action-oriented in its approach to disaster risk reduction and applies to the risk of small-scale and large-scale disasters caused by man-made, or natural hazards, as well as related environmental, technological and biological hazards and risks.

https://www.un.org/en/observances/disaster-reduction-day