GAR 2015 Main Report

xix

the subsequent losses and impacts will become a societal issue that can be subjected to social discourse and negotiation.

This can lead to enhanced accountability not only for realized disaster loss and impacts, but also for the generation and accumulation of future risks, through a combination of social demand, appropriate normative frameworks, voluntary standards and enhanced monitoring of progress against explicit and transparent benchmarks and targets.

A transformational force

As these and other innovations start to challenge the way disaster risk has been managed up to now, disaster risk reduction has the potential to become a truly transformational force.

The reduction of poverty, the improvement of health and education for all, the achievement of sustainable and equitable economic growth and the protection of the health of the planet now depend on the management of disaster risks in the day-to-day decisions of governments, companies, investors, civil society organizations, households and individuals. Strengthened disaster risk reduction is essential to make development sustainable.

Key features of GAR15

GAR15 is addressed to all those committed to sustainable development, reducing disaster risk and addressing climate change. The report contains a number of new features and enhanced content.

Disasters measured in human life years

In this edition, the concept of human life years is introduced as an alternative representation of disaster impact, as it provides a metric that describes the time required to produce economic development and social progress; time which is lost in disasters. The loss of human life years, be it through disasters, disease or accidents, is therefore a way of measuring setbacks to development that goes beyond conventional metrics such as

mortality and economic loss. This metric brings the real scale of disaster loss into clear focus, and its use as a common currency allows comparisons with other development challenges.

Globally comparable risk metrics

The mapping and understanding of the global risk landscape has been greatly enhanced by the latest iteration of the GAR Global Risk Assessment. This now estimates the risks associated with earthquakes, tropical cyclone winds and storm surges, tsunamis and riverine flooding for all countries of the world. In addition, the risks associated with volcanic ash in the Asia-Pacific region, drought in various countries in sub-Saharan Africa and climate change in a number of countries have been calculated. Using the same methodology, arithmetic and exposure model to calculate risk probabilistically for all hazards enables risk levels to be compared between countries and regions, across hazard types and with development metrics such as capital investment and social expenditure.ⁱⁱ

Volcanic hazard and risk

A major scientific review of volcanic hazard and risk has been produced for the GAR by leading national and international scientific institutions. For the first time, GAR15 includes a dedicated section on volcanic hazard and risk, which summarizes selected findings from this review.

Increased coverage of data on extensive risk

One of the principle contributions of the GAR series has been to reveal extensive risk through a pioneering approach in which countries are empowered to record their disaster losses systematically at all levels. The evidence base on extensive risk presented in GAR15 represents another significant step towards a global understanding of this risk layer. GAR15 now presents systematic and comparable disaster loss data from 85 countries and territories, compared to 56 countries and territories in 2013, 22 in 2011 and only 13 in 2009.ⁱⁱⁱ

	xix the subsequent losses and impacts will become a societal issue that can be subjected to social discourse and negotiation. This can lead to enhanced accountability not only for realized disaster loss and impacts, but also for the generation and accumulation of future risks, through a combination of social demand, appropriate normative frameworks, voluntary standards and enhanced monitoring of progress against explicit and transparent benchmarks and targets. A transformational force As these and other innovations start to challenge the way disaster risk has been managed up to now, disaster risk reduction has the potential to become a truly transformational force. The reduction of poverty, the improvement of health and education for all, the achievement of sustainable and equitable economic growth and the protection of the health of the planet now depend on the management of disaster risks in the day-to-day decisions of governments, companies, investors, civil society organizations, households and individuals. Strengthened disaster risk reduction is essential to make development sustainable. Key features of GAR15 GAR15 is addressed to all those committed to sustainable development, reducing disaster risk and addressing climate change. The report contains a number of new features and enhanced content. Disasters measured in human life years In this edition, the concept of human life years is introduced as an alternative representation of disaster impact, as it provides a metric that describes the time required to produce economic development and social progress; time which is lost in disasters. The loss of human life years, be it through disasters, disease or accidents, is therefore a way of measuring setbacks to development that goes beyond conventional metrics such as mortality and economic loss. This metric brings the real scale of disaster loss into clear focus, and its use as a common currency allows comparisons with other development challenges. Globally comparable risk metrics The mapping and understanding of the global risk landscape has been greatly enhanced by the latest iteration of the GAR Global Risk Assessment. This now estimates the risks associated with earthquakes, tropical cyclone winds and storm surges, tsunamis and riverine flooding for all countries of the world. In addition, the risks associated with volcanic ash in the Asia-Pacific region, drought in various countries in sub-Saharan Africa and climate change in a number of countries have been calculated. Using the same methodology, arithmetic and exposure model to calculate risk probabilistically for all hazards enables risk levels to be compared between countries and regions, across hazard types and with development metrics such as capital investment and social expenditure.ⁱⁱ Volcanic hazard and risk A major scientific review of volcanic hazard and risk has been produced for the GAR by leading national and international scientific institutions. For the first time, GAR15 includes a dedicated section on volcanic hazard and risk, which summarizes selected findings from this review. Increased coverage of data on extensive risk One of the principle contributions of the GAR series has been to reveal extensive risk through a pioneering approach in which countries are empowered to record their disaster losses systematically at all levels. The evidence base on extensive risk presented in GAR15 represents another significant step towards a global understanding of this risk layer. GAR15 now presents systematic and comparable disaster loss data from 85 countries and territories, compared to 56 countries and territories in 2013, 22 in 2011 and only 13 in 2009.ⁱⁱⁱ	Page 1 Page 9 Page 10 Page 11 Page 12 Page 13 Page 14 Page 15 Page 16 Page 17 Page 18 Page 19 Page 20 ->Page 21 Page 22 Page 23 Page 24 Page 25 Page 26 Page 27 Page 28 Page 29 Page 30 Page 31 Page 32 Page 33 Page 40 Page 50 Page 60 Page 70 Page 80 Page 90 Page 100 Page 110 Page 120 Page 130 Page 140 Page 150 Page 160 Page 170 Page 180 Page 190 Page 200 Page 210 Page 220 Page 230 Page 240 Page 250 Page 260 Page 270 Page 280 Page 290 Page 300 Page 310