Global Assessment Report on Disaster Risk Reduction 2013
From Shared Risk to Shared Value: the Business Case for Disaster Risk Reduction


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The “wake-up call”- disasters
are even costlier than we thought
Businesses loses its lifeline when critical infrastructure is hit: Most
of the 1,300 businesses surveyed in disaster prone cities in the Americas noted
disruptions in power and water supply and telecommunications
as top concerns (Chapter 15). Over 90% of damage to these lifelines occurs in
local disasters (Chapter 1).
Disasters directly affect business performance and undermine
longer-term competitiveness and sustainability: When business leaves
it may never return. Prior to the 1995 earthquake, the port of Kobe was the world’s
sixth-busiest. Despite a massive investment in reconstruction and efforts to
improve competitiveness, by 2010, it had fallen to 47th place (Chapter 1).
Direct disaster losses are at least 50 percent higher than
internationally reported figures: Total direct losses in 40 low and middle
income countries amount to US$305 billion over the last 30 years; of these more
than 30 percent were not internationally reported (Part I-Intro).
Globalised supply chains create new vulnerabilities: Toyota lost
$1.2 billion in product revenue from the 2011 Japan earthquake and tsunami
due to parts shortages that caused 150,000 fewer Toyota automobiles to be
manufactured in the USA, and
reductions in production of 70% in India
and 50% in China (Chapter 1, Box 1.4).
GAR at a Glance
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