Coping with nature's destructive forces

In the Philippines, when disasters, such as floods hit, it is the poorest communities who suffer the most, due to unsuitable housing and because they live closer to riverbanks, writes Tony Cunningham, British MP and Shadow Minster for International Development in the Huffington Post. As climate change increases the instances of natural disasters, more and more people, including 175 million children will be affected by climate related disasters in the years to come, thus "designing, implementing and funding Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) programmes which minimise vulnerabilities and mitigate the adverse impacts of natural hazards has therefore never been more important."

Cunningham notes that DRR strategies can enhance resilience of nations and that it is possible to recover from disasters. Finally, he urges Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg, UK's representative at the Rio+20 UN Conference to illustrate leadership and commitment on the issue of sustainable development, including commitment to Disaster Risk Reduction.

Sir Tony Cunningham is Shadow Minster for International Development. His own constituency of Workington suffered some of Britain's worst floods in 2009.