The U.N. conference that wrapped up early Thursday in Sendai was the highest-level international meeting on disaster risk reduction ever, but the resulting set of seven goals to combat disasters are far from ambitious, critics say.
The new action plan, adopted overnight Wednesday following prolonged negotiations, was initially expected to include specific numbers or percentages on reducing deaths and economic losses, and boosting financial aid for developing countries.
But the post-2015 Sendai framework only said national governments will aim to "substantially" reduce such losses in the next 15 years compared with the 10 years through 2015. Earlier proposals made by host Japan and others on percentage goals were rejected by Western countries, including the United States, delegation sources said.