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Disaster Risk Reduction

Asia and the Pacific is the most disaster prone region in the world. A person living in the region is almost twice as likely to be affected by a disaster as a person living in Africa, almost six times as likely compared with Latin America and the Caribbean, and 30 times more likely than a person living in North America or Europe. In 2015 alone, 160 disasters were reported in the Asia-Pacific region, accounting for 47 per cent of the world’s 344 disasters, and these caused over US $45 billion in damages. Rapid economic growth and population expansion over the coming decades, along with the impacts of climate change, will increase the exposure and vulnerability of the region to disasters. As disasters disrupt all sectors of the economy and destroy hard-earned development gains, it is crucial that effective disaster risk reduction measures are integrated into development plans and poverty reduction strategies.

 

Asia-Pacific Disaster Report 2022 for ESCAP Subregions - Pathways to Adaptation and Resilience in South and South-West Asia

Resilience in a Riskier World: Managing Systemic Risks from Biological and Other Natural Hazards, the Asia Pacific Disaster Report 2021 captured a comprehensive picture of the complexity of disaster risk landscape (‘riskscape’) from natural and biological hazards in the Asia-Pacific region. The full-length publication is available at https://www.unescap.org/kp/2021/asia-pacific-disaster-report-2021.

Disaster-responsive social protection Policy brief for the Pacific Small Island Developing States

Social protection refers to a broad set of government transfers of income or services designed to reduce vulnerability and build resilience of individuals, households, and communities. Making social protection disaster-responsive means that current and future levels of disaster risk, projected intensity and frequency of hazards, the exposure of populations and their coping capacities should be incorporated into the review and design of all social protection programmes.

Adaptation and Resilience to Drought: From know how to do how A guidebook for the practitioners [Based on the case studies from South East Asia]

The Ready for the Dry Years publication series has been a part of joint efforts between ESCAP and ASEAN to support Member States to prepare for intensifying drought risk, by assessing patterns of drought hazard exposure and vulnerability, highlighting drought impacts, and assessing future drought risks in the decades ahead. The second edition of the Report was launched at the ASEAN Ministerial Meeting on Disaster Management, which was held virtua

Pathways to manage cascading risks and protect people in South Asia: Key takeaways for stakeholders

In South Asia, against a backdrop of existing critical socioeconomic vulnerabilities, the deluge of weather events starting from cyclones, to floods to the related outbreaks of water/vector-borne diseases demonstrate how disaster impacts cascade and converge and threaten the very chains that hold economic and social systems together. South Asian countries have always been highly vulnerable to natural disasters. But for the first time in living memory, these natural disasters have hit amid a global pandemic.

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Overview map of latest disaster alerts

© 2016 United Nations / European Union. Map of disaster alerts in the past 4 days. Last 24 hours events are highlighted in yellow. Small earthquakes are shown as green boxes. Retrieved from the Global Disaster Alert and Coordination System.