Natural catastrophes and man-made disasters in 2013: large losses from floods and hail; Haiyan hits the Philippines

This issue presents an overview, both global and regional, of the catastrophes that occurred in 2013 and their impacts in terms of number of victims and economic and insured losses. It includes a chapter on fostering climate change resilience, which argues that dealing with climate change requires a reduction in greenhouse gas emissions alongside an integrated approach to disaster risk management and describes how cost-effective adaptation measures could avoid up to 68% of climate change risks. It also focuses on Typhoon Haiyan, which was the biggest humanitarian catastrophe of the year.

According to this report, in 2013, there were 308 disaster events, of which 150 were natural catastrophes and 158 man-made. Almost 26 000 people lost their lives or went missing in the disasters. The report shows that disaster events continue to generate increasing financial losses alongside ongoing economic development, population growth and global urbanization, in spite of the emergency preparedness and disaster risk management progress in 2013.