Businesses and governments must build stronger partnerships and deeper engagement in managing disaster risks and impacts, Dr. Shamshad Akhtar, Executive Secretary of the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP), told a session of the Third World Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction in Sendai, Japan.
New research from the United Nations in Asia-Pacific shows that it is not unusual for the private sector to suffer the bulk of economic losses as happened in the 2011 Thailand floods, with Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) being particularly vulnerable to natural disasters, making business resilience essential for societal resilience.