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Disaster risk management
Background: Natural disasters on the rise
In the last twenty years natural disasters have claimed more than 1.5 million lives around the globe. In 2008 alone, almost 250,000 lives were lost. Many more millions of people live with the constant threat of impending natural disasters. According to figures published by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), about 118 million people are at risk from earthquakes, 343.6 million individuals must live in fear that a hurricane or cyclone will destroy their homes, 521 million live with the threat of being hit by flooding, and 130 million with the threat of drought.
One important factor determining disaster risk and the vulnerability of a society is the country's level of development, quite apart from its geographical location. Statistics show that over 90 per cent of all victims of past natural disasters have been in developing countries. Studies confirm the mutually reinforcing nature of vulnerability to natural disasters and poverty. Disaster risk management, which helps to reduce that vulnerability, is thus an essential factor in poverty reduction.
Lack of disaster preparedness
According to the definition used by the United Nations, a disaster is "a serious disruption of the functioning of a community or a society causing widespread human, material, economic or environmental losses which exceed the ability of the affected community or society to cope using its own resources".
In industrialised countries, the physical damage can often be remedied thanks to insurance coverage, state support and the willingness of the public to make donations. Developing countries, on the other hand, are frequently unable to handle an acute emergency without external support. Natural disasters then often trigger a series of knock-on problems. Poverty, undernutrition, homelessness, epidemics and even armed hostilities can be triggered or aggravated.
There are many factors that make developing countries more vulnerable to natural disasters. Apart from climate change, these include extreme urbanisation, illegal settlements and building on high-risk areas, deforestation and soil erosion, a lack of knowledge of the risk factors and inadequate structures of communication and responsibility. The UNDP study "Reducing Disaster Risk – A Challenge for Development" confirms that most deaths that occur in conjunction with natural disasters are caused by poverty.
The link between disasters and development is one major reason for Germany's engagement in the field of disaster risk management. Without preventive action the destructive forces unleashed by natural disasters will continue to have a devastating impact. They will continue to negate some of the progress achieved in developing countries, aggravate poverty and thus hamper sustainable development.
Information
See also
External links
- World Disasters Report 2010 of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies
(PDF 5.4 MB) - 2009 disasters in numbers
A publication of the
Secretariat of the
International Strategy
for Disaster Reduction
(PDF 135 KB) - Reducing Disaster Risk – A Challenge for Development
A UNDP study
(PDF 3.9 MB)
