Reaffirms that the Inter-Agency Task Force for Disaster Reduction should perform the functions as indicated in the report of the Secretary-General, in particular those of serving as a main forum within the UN system for devising strategies and policies for disaster reduction and ensuring complementarity of action by agencies involved in disaster reduction, mitigation and preparedness, decides to review the activities of the Task Force in 2003, and decides also that the inter-agency secretariat for the International Strategy for Disaster Reduction should develop collaborative links with appropriate regional disaster reduction organizations; decides that the Task Force should be modified in order to provide for the increased participation and continued membership of regional intergovernmental organizations and key UN agencies; requests the Secretary-General to optimize further and disseminate through all available channels, including handbooks and information systems, the information necessary for the effective management of international cooperation in the fields of disaster prevention, early warning, response, mitigation, rehabilitation and reconstruction; decides to maintain the annual observance of the International Day for Natural Disaster Reduction on the second Wednesday of October, as a vehicle to promote a global culture of natural disaster reduction, including prevention, mitigation and preparedness.

Adopted without vote, 90th plenary meeting

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