InvitesGovernments which have not alreadv done so to make national preparations to meet naturaf disasters, including administrative arrangements and such measures as training of relief personnel, stockpiling of supplies needed for disaster relief, earmarking of means of transportation and the development of warning systems and of means of speedy comnmnication ;
2
InvitesGovernments and organizations of the United Nations system, as well as other organizations
concerned,
to give full recognition to the need to promote scientific research regarding the causes and early manifestations of impending disasters, to ascertain and assess areas and places of high vulnerability, all() to encourage preventive and protective measures, sucl1 as the construction of disaster-resistant housing;
3
Urgesthe Secretary-General, in co-operation with the organizations of the United Nations system as well as the League of Red Cross Societies and other organizations concerned, to consider ways of expanding assistance to Governments in the fielcls referred to in paragraphs 1 and 2 above;
15 O fficial Records of the Economic and Socia! C ouncil, Resumed Forty-fifth Session, Annexes, agenda item 1, document E/4544.
4
Requcsts the Secretary-General to give early consideration to the strengthening of staff arrangements within the United Nations Secretariat for dealing with natural disasters, including the establishment of a coordinating group whose members would be drawn, as appropriate, from the existing staff of the Secretariat;
5
Appeals to States Members of the United Nations ami memhers of the specialized agencies to consider offering, through the U nited N ations or otherwise, emergency assistance to meet natural disasters, including stand-by disaster relief units or the eannarking of similar units for service in foreign countries, and requests the Secretary-General to consult States Members of the United Nations and rnembers of the specialized agencies on the types of emergency assistance they would he in a position to offer;
6
Requeststhe Secretary-General to complete at an early date the study tmdertaken by the Secretariat concerning the legal sta~us of disaster relief units made available through the United Nations and in this connexion to consult, as appropriate, States Members of the United ~ ations and members of the specialized agencies;
7
Decides to extend for another three years the authority given to the Secretary-General in General Assembly resolution 2034 (XX), namely, to draw on the \Vorking Capital Fund in the amount of $100,000 in any one year for emergency aicl in connexion with natural clisasters, with a normal ceiling of $20,000 per country in the case of any one disaster;
8
Decides, as an interim measure, to the extent that it does not prove necessary in any one year to make advances from the \Vorking Capital Fund up to the maxinmm amount of $100,000 for the purposes referred to in paragraph 7 al)ove, to authorize the Secretary-General to advance the balance from the same source in the following year, in amounts not exceeding $10,000 per country, for assistance to Governments, at their request, in co-operation with the organizations of the United Nations system and the League of Red Cross Societies where appropriate, in the elaboration of national preparations to meet natural disasters, it being understoocl that consideration will be given to obtaining, in the future, the necessary funds for such assistance frorn other sources ;
9
Requcsts the Administrative Committee 011 Coordination to review perioclically programmes and projects throughout the Unitecl Nations system which relate to natural disasters, and to include appropriate recommendations thereon in its report to the Economic and Social Council;
10
Requeststhe Secretary-General to suhmit an interim report on the implementation of the present resolution to the Economic and Social Council, at the latest at one of its sessions to be helcl in 1970, and a comprehensive report to the Council at its fifty-first session;
1 l. Decides to review at its twentv-sixth session, 011 the basis of the comprehensive report referred to in paragraph 10 above and the recommenclations thereon by the Economic and Social Council, ali aspects of the activities of the United N'ations family of organizations in connexion with natural clisasters.
1748th plcnary 111ee-tin(!,
19 Derember 1968. Resolutiom adopted on tbe reporta of the Third Committee
