Negotiators meeting in Kobe, Japan worked past midnight before reaching a consensus on a declaration which was to be formally approved at the conference's close on Saturday, a United Nations official said.

"It is vital to give high priority to disaster risk reduction in national policy, consistent with (governments') capacities and resources available to them," said a draft of the declaration, named for Hyogo Prefecture which includes Kobe.

"We believe it is critically important that the Hyogo Framework for Action be translated into concrete action at all levels," the declaration said.

Some sides had pushed for deadlines to be set on funding and safety standards to reduce disaster risks.

Salvano Briceno, head of the UN disaster reduction group running the conference, said such a general tone was inevitable with so many views after the tsunami disaster.

"When there are so many differences, so many views among countries, it is a slow process. It has to be and the outcome has to be a very general document," Briceno told AFP.

He said the United Nations would instead lead the effort to set more specific guidelines for disaster reduction, with one year to come up with measures to propose to countries.

The conference, timed to coincide with the 10th anniversary of a major earthquake here, took on a new dimension after the shock of the Asian tsunami disaster which killed some 220,000 people.

The delegates reached a consensus on Thursday to put the United Nations in charge of building a tsunami alert system for the Indian Ocean, amid competing offers by donor and regional nations to share their technology.

The alert system for the Indian Ocean was pledged be up and running in 12 to 18 months.

The framework for action called for the development of alert systems across the world that are "people-centered, in particular systems whose warnings are timely and understandable to those at risk."

It called on governments to "prepare and publish national baseline assessments of the status of disaster risk reduction, according to the capabilities, needs and policies of each state."

It also said states should "publish and periodically update a summary of national programs for disaster risk reduction."

UN relief chief Jan Egeland began the conference on Tuesday with an appeal for 10 percent of all humanitarian aid over the next decade to go toward reducing risks.

The final declaration spoke of "the intrinsic relationship between disaster reduction, sustainable development and poverty eradication."

"We recognize as well that a culture of disaster prevention and resilience and associated pre-disaster strategies, which are sound financial investments, must be fostered at all levels, ranging from the individual to international levels," it said.

One controversy during the negotiations was climate change, with the United States, which has rejected the Kyoto protocol, leading objections to repeated references to global warming as a concern in disaster reduction.

Briceno said the push on global warming came largely from small island nations but it was agreed to minimize mentions of climate change.

The final document, however, still mentions the issue, with governments called upon to consider "adaptation to climate change" in disaster policy.

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