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Asia-Pacific growth needs disaster resilience

Source(s): Science and Development Network
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The achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in the Asia-Pacific will depend largely on building greater resilience to disasters but rising populations and burgeoning cities are exacerbating existing risks and creating new ones, writes SciDev.net.

According to the Asia-Pacific Disaster Report 2015, the latest flagship publication of the UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP). A record 1,625 disasters struck the Asia-Pacific in 2005-2014, killing around 500,000 people and harming another 1.4 billion, while causing US$523 billion in economic damage. Many of the disasters were trans-boundary in nature: cyclones, typhoons, floods and earthquakes.

“The recognition of disaster risk reduction as a central, cross-cutting issue for achieving sustainable development in the region aims to bring about a shift from response mechanisms to prevention and preparedness as investment in disaster risk reduction has proven to be cost effective,” Shamshad Akhtar, UN undersecretary general and ESCAP executive secretary said.

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