Agence-France Presse: Policymakers gathered for a ten-yearly meeting on disaster risk reduction on Saturday (Mar 14), with hopes high that the conference in tsunami-hit Japan might provide a springboard for efforts to tackle natural disasters and costly climate change.
The meeting came as a huge tropical cyclone smashed into Vanuatu in the South Pacific, terrifying residents and causing fears Saturday that dozens of people may have died.
UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said he had met the president of Vanuatu that...