Now is the time to strengthen disaster risk reduction in East Asia and the Pacific

Every time I learn of another natural disaster – the people killed and injured, homes destroyed, livelihoods lost – I know we must act to reduce the tragic impact instead of waiting for the next disaster strikes.
We have that chance with this year’s World Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction in Sendai, which seeks to finalize the successor to the Hyogo Framework for Action (HFA2) that guides policymakers and international stakeholders in managing disaster risk. The conference is an opportunity to set new milestones in disaster risk reduction and fighting poverty.
The cost of natural disasters already is high – 2.5 million people and $4 trillion lost over the past 30 years with a corresponding blow to development efforts.
In Asia, rapid urbanization combined with poor planning dramatically increases the exposure of cities, particularly those along densely populated coasts and river basins. Typhoon Haiyan, which killed more than 7,350 people in the Philippines in 2013, directly contributed to a 1.2 percent rise in poverty.
- Tags:
- WCDRR 2015
- GFDRR
- Urban Development
- Environment
- Disasters
- Climate Change
- East Asia and Pacific
- Vietnam
- Vanuatu
- Tuvalu
- Tonga
- Timor-Leste
- Thailand
- Solomon Islands
- Singapore
- Samoa
- Philippines
- Palau
- Myanmar
- Mongolia
- Micronesia, Federated States of
- Marshall Islands
- Malaysia
- Lao People's Democratic Republic
- Korea, Republic of
- Kiribati
- Japan
- Indonesia
- Fiji
- China
- Cambodia
- Disaster Risk Financing and Insurance Program