Alisa Tang Thomson Reuters Foundation 27 Oct 15;
BANGKOK, Oct 27 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - The Asia Pacific region, the most disaster-prone part of the world, suffered 1,625 disasters in the decade through 2014, and needs to spend more on adapting to climate change and preparing for more extreme weather, the United Nations said on Tuesday.
The region's disasters - 40 percent of the global total - claimed half a million lives over the decade, affected 1.4 billion people and caused $523 billion in economic damage, the 2015 U.N. Asia-Pacific Disaster Report said.
The world body urged the region's governments to invest more in adapting to climate change and preparing for disasters as the risks the region faces are worsened by its rapid economic growth and mushrooming population.
"Building resilience is not a choice or luxury for us, but a compulsion," Shamshad Akhtar, head of the U.N. regional development arm for Asia Pacific, said at the launch of the report in Bangkok.
"Investing in disaster risk reduction is of course proven effective. It's a critical area, but at the same time it's neglected."
FACTBOX: Asia's deadliest disasters, benefits of early warnings
Some 772 million poor people in the region are particularly vulnerable to disasters and tend to live in low-value, hazard-prone areas such as urban slums, steep slopes, flood plains and riverbanks, the report said.
They lack the resources to take preventive measures and do not having savings to draw upon when disaster strikes, it said.
International aid for disasters was $28 billion from 2004 to 2013, but most of this was for emergency response and rehabilitation, rather than prevention, it said.
In the Pacific Island nation of Fiji, the government began allocating funds for disaster risk reduction in 2013, "shifting from a culture of reaction to a culture of prevention", said Inia Batikoto Seruiratu, Fijian national disaster management minister.
Home to about 887,000 people, Fiji is improving roads, bridges and jetties, as well as lifelines such as water and electricity infrastructure, Seruiratu said at the U.N. conference centre in Bangkok.
MAKING HOMES STRONGER
With most people living in rural areas, Fiji is also focusing on programmes to ensure economic well-being, increasing its budget to help rural communities repair or rebuild homes with better quality materials that can withstand cyclones, he said.
"If you look at the figures from previous disasters, a lot of money is spent on housing rehabilitation because most people lose their houses," Seruiratu said.
"It's about cost and benefit: Increase the allocation on housing, rather than spending more money when the disaster comes."
Akhtar said regional cooperation was crucial as many disasters strike across borders, including floods, cyclones, droughts, and most recently the 7.5-magnitude earthquake on Monday that killed hundreds in Afghanistan and Pakistan.
"It is a grave concern that disasters are becoming more frequent, much larger and more intense," she said.
"Increasing threats from transboundary risks across the region demand ... cross-border sharing of information and regional cooperation."
She said multi-hazard early warning systems help save lives, adding that early warning systems must include fast and reliable dissemination of warnings, community awareness on how to respond, and long-term financial sustainability to support developing these mechanisms.
"Since the Indian Ocean tsunami in 2004, our early warning system strengthened, but gaps remain in the last mile," Akhtar said.
FACTBOX-Asia's deadliest disasters, benefits of early warnings
Alisa Tang Thomson Reuters Foundation 27 Oct 15;
BANGKOK, Oct 27 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - The United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) on Tuesday released its 2015 report on the most disaster-prone region in the world.
The Asia-Pacific region was hit by 1,625 natural disasters from 2005 to 2014, which killed half a million people and caused $523 billion in economic damage.
The region suffered 40 percent of all disasters worldwide, 60 percent of deaths, and 80 percent of the number of people affected.
Here are other facts from the U.N. 2015 Asia-Pacific disaster report:
- In the period from 2005 to 2014, earthquakes and tsunamis were the most deadly disasters, killing 200,000 people.
- The most frequent disasters were floods and storms. Storms killed about 170,000 people, floods killed about 40,000.
- Within the Asia Pacific region, Southeast Asia had the most disasters, with 512 events from 2005 to 2014 and 177,000 deaths.
- Over the past decade, the region had eight of the 10 largest disasters in terms of fatalities, and four of the 10 largest in terms of economic damage.
- Cyclone Nargis, a category 3 storm that hit Myanmar in 2008, was the world's second deadliest disaster in the past decade, with 138,000 killed or missing. (The deadliest was the Haiti earthquake in 2010, with 225,570 deaths.)
- Also in 2008, a 7.9-magnitude earthquake in China's Sichuan province killed 87,000 and caused $60 billion in damage.
- In 2011, Japan's 9.0-magnitude earthquake and tsunami killed 20,000 people and caused $165 billion in damage, representing 3.8 percent of the country's GDP.
- The region also had a large number of deaths from extreme temperatures with 56,000 killed in a severe heat wave in North and Central Asia in 2010.
- Based on present trends, by the year 2030 economic losses in the region could average $160 billion per year.
- Recent investments in disaster resilience include hanging footbridges in the Philippines to provide access to schools and vital infrastructure during floods; in Thailand typhoon forecasts five to seven days in advance so farmers can harvest crops early.
- From 2004 to 2013, international assistance to the region totalled $438 billion, including $18.2 billion for emergency response to disasters, $6.8 billion for reconstruction, relief and rehabilitation, and $2.9 billion for disaster prevention and preparedness.
- Early warning and preparedness have dramatically reduced the death toll of cyclones in Bangladesh, where 4,234 were killed in a category 5 storm in 2007, down from 138,866 killed in a category 3 storm in 1991, and 300,000 killed in a category 3 storm in 1970.
