The Natural Hazards Research Platform, which, as a multi-party research platform funded by the Ministry of Business, Innovation, and Employment (MBIE) is dedicated to increasing New Zealand’s resilience to natural hazards via high quality collaborative research, has published an updated version of its annual report “Natural Hazards 2014”.

In the introduction, Phillip Gibson, New Zealand’s Special Envoy on Disaster Risk Management and a key contributor to establishing the role of Science and Technology in the Sendai Framework, writes: “Good science and research are fundamental to disaster risk management. This has long been recognised in New Zealand, together with the importance of collaboration and partnerships. There is an international dimension to this. Offshore collaboration enriches our domestic DRM expertise, not only in the underlying science, but also in policy, planning and practice across the four ‘Rs’ of risk reduction, readiness, response and recovery. International collaboration on DRM has also become an important part of New Zealand’s world profile. We have a long history of supporting countries affected by disasters, especially in the South Pacific, East and South East Asia and more widely through the United Nations. It is about New Zealand being a good international citizen. It also very much reflects our friendships and responsibilities in our part of the world. DRM is an area where New Zealand’s domestic experience and expertise are relevant and valued offshore”.