Measuring disaster resilience in MENA countries and its impact on disaster losses

This study introduces a novel and comprehensive DRI tailored specifically for the MENA countries, addressing a critical need for region-specific disaster preparedness and resilience assessment. The DRI incorporates 10 dimensions and 76 indicators, capturing economic, social, institutional, infrastructure, agricultural, geographical, natural hazard risk, emergency workforce, women empowerment, and human capital resilience.

The findings reveal a diverse landscape of disaster resilience in the MENA region, with some countries demonstrating high preparedness and resilience, while others face significant challenges. The classification of the DRI enables a detailed comprehension of the strengths and vulnerabilities of the region concerning its capacity to withstand and recover from disasters. The inclusion of novel dimensions such as geographical resilience and natural hazard risk also provides a more holistic perspective for policymakers, practitioners, and researchers. Analysis of dimension-specific scores indicates that low-performing countries-such as Yemen, Djibouti, and Egypt-exhibit pronounced weaknesses in institutional capacity, human capital, and emergency workforce readiness, while their infrastructure and economic dimensions are relatively better.