Moving from relief to resilience: the role of business in disaster risk reduction

Helen Roeth reports that according to the Swiss Reinsurance Company Sigma report, catastrophes and man-made disasters caused 240,500 deaths in 2008, with economic losses up to 269 billion dollars - and numbers are expected to increase due to climate change factors and economic severity of catastrophes.

She reports that for Swiss Re, risk avoidance and mitigation strategies have to be approached as priorities in managing disasters, and asserts that studies have shown potential economic return for investments in disaster risk reduction (DRR). The report also promotes the World Economic Forum's assertion that DRR provides the private sector "greater scope for involvement, more opportunities to leverage core private sector competencies, and a more sustainable paradigm for engagement than traditional response and relief”.