Disaster Looming

A Hard Scrabble
West Java residents clean up after a September 2009 earthquake. Asia is one of the world’s most disaster-prone regions.
Photo by AFP

Floods, cyclones, and other lowintensity but recurring disasters are destroying livelihoods, houses, and infrastructure in developing countries, affecting the lives of millions of people. A United Nations (UN) report notes that damage to housing alone has quintupled since 1980. Frequent low-intensity events are a sign that a major disaster may be looming, the report says.

“Disaster risk is rising in an alarming way, threatening development gains, economic stability, and global security while creating disproportionate impact on developing countries, and poor rural and urban areas,” said UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.

According to the UN’s Global Assessment Report on Disaster Risk Reduction in May, global disaster risk in the case of floods increased by 13% (mortality) and 35% (economic loss) between 1990 and 2007. Three heavily populated countries—Bangladesh, People’s Republic of China, and India—account for 75% of the mortality risk from floods.

The report notes that a country’s economic and social development are factors that determine the impact of a disaster. Japan and the Philippines, for example, have roughly equivalent population exposure to tropical cyclones. Yet, 17 times more people are likely to die in the Philippines than in Japan.

Small and vulnerable economies have low resilience to disaster. The report says Vanuatu has the greatest projected number of annual fatalities to tropical cyclones per million inhabitants in the world.

The UN report also points out that lack of urban planning has made cities unsafe and has increased the risk of disasters. Other risk factors are the destruction of the environment and global warming.

“While we cannot prevent natural phenomena such as earthquakes and cyclones, we can limit their consequences. Preemptive risk reduction is the key. Sound response mechanisms after the event, however effective, are never enough,” said the UN Secretary-General. •