The World Conference on Disaster Reduction was held from the 18th to the 22nd January 2005 in Kobe, Hyogo, Japan, and adopted the present Framework for Action 2005-2015: Building the Resilience of Shelter Centre has been granted permission by this publisher to post documents online. The copyright remains with the publisher. Nations and Communities to Disasters (here after referred to as the "Framework for Action"). The Conference provided a unique opportunity to promote a strategic and systematic approach to reducing vulnerabilities and risks to hazards. It underscored the need for, and identified ways of, building the resilience of nations and communities to disasters.