Reducing the risk of disasters - helping to achieve sustainable poverty reduction in a vulnerable world: a DFID policy paper

This paper summarises DFID’s policy on disaster risk reduction as it applies to natural and technological disasters. 2004 and 2005 saw some of the worst disasters in living memory: from the Asian Tsunami, to droughts in Africa, the hurricanes which devastated America’s Gulf coast and Central America, and the Pakistan earthquake. These disasters claimed hundreds of thousands of lives, ruined millions of livelihoods and caused billions of pounds worth of damage. But many of the lives lost could have been saved had simple measures been in place, such as better constructed houses, schools and hospitals and effective early warning systems that could be used by local communities. The number and frequency of disasters is growing. According to Munich Re, one of the world’s largest reinsurance companies, the 1990s saw economic losses from disasters total over US$608 billion - greater than losses over the four previous decades combined. The number of disasters will increase as climate change and global warming generate more severe weather-related events. It is the poorest who are worst affected and suffer most.