Pacific launch of the 2011 Global Assessment Report on Disaster Risk Reduction

The risk of dying in a flood or tropical cyclone in the Pacific region is today only a third of what it was in 1990 says a United Nations report titled Revealing Risk, Redefining Development. This 2011 edition of the Global Assessment Report on Disaster Risk Reduction, to be launched in Auckland, shows that globally mortality risk associated with weather-related disasters has decreased, mainly due to positive trends in the Asia and Pacific region.

Disaster-related economic losses are increasing across the globe, critically threatening the economies of low-income countries and even outstripping wealth creation across many of the world’s richer nations. The absolute value of global GDP exposed to tropical cyclones tripled from US$525.7 billion in the 1970s to US$1.6 trillion in the 2000s.

The floods in Australia and the devastating earthquake that hit Christchurch, New Zealand in early 2011 show how the economies and populations of developed countries are increasingly exposed. The recent events in Japan point to new and catastrophic risks that need to be anticipated.

The report makes the direct correlation between disaster-related economic losses and the limited investment in risk management particularly at the local level. Such limitations, as highlighted by GAR11, point towards skewed actions. On the one hand, there is good progress in early warning, preparedness and response for example, but on the other hand, countries are struggling with addressing the underlying risk drivers such as unplanned urbanization, ecosystem degradation and vulnerable livelihoods as well as critical issues such as public awareness or gender. The report also provides new information on earthquake mortality, which is increasing exponentially in low- and middle-income countries, and points to drought risk as mainly the product of economic decisions and social choices.