UN report: Asia-Pacific region more prone to natural disasters

[News_Editor]

UN report: Asia-Pacific region more prone to natural disasters

2010-10-27 08:04:09 GMT+7 (ICT)

UNITED NATIONS (BNO NEWS) – A United Nations (UN) report released on Tuesday showed that countries in Asia and the Pacific are more prone to natural disasters than those in other parts of the world.

The report, which was unveiled at the 4th Asian Ministerial Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction in South Korea, said that people in the Asia-Pacific region are four times more likely to be affected by a natural catastrophe than those in Africa and 25 times more vulnerable than Europeans or North Americans.

According to the study, future disaster risk reduction strategies in the region should be considered within broader development frameworks and multisectoral budgetary processes that address economic inequities and social and environmental imbalances.

The report also notes that natural disasters had disproportionate impacts on human development in the region, which lacked comprehensive natural disasters assessment capacity.

In addition, it said that even though the region generated one quarter of the world's gross domestic product (GDP), it accounted for 85 percent of deaths and 42 percent of global economic losses due to natural disasters.

The report considers the socio-economic impact of disasters, and suggests ways of reducing vulnerability to disasters to protect development gains.

It emphasizes that disaster losses are linked to and exacerbated by poverty, and that the vulnerability of the poor stems from multifaceted socio-economic and environmental imbalances.

"Unless these imbalances are addressed, people who are constantly exposed to disaster risk are more likely to remain poor and more vulnerable to disasters, perpetuating a vicious cycle from which it is extremely difficult to break free," said Noeleen Heyzer, the Executive Secretary of the UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP).

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