Reducing disaster risk: a challenge for development
This report shows that billions of people in more than 100 countries are periodically exposed to at least one event of earthquake, tropical cyclone, flood or drought. It introduces a pioneering Disaster Risk Index (DRI) that measures the relative vulnerability of countries to three key natural hazards — earthquake, tropical cyclone and flood — identifies development factors that contribute to risk, and shows in quantitative terms, just how the effects of disasters can be either reduced or exacerbated by policy choices.
It demonstrates that development processes intervene in the translation of physical exposure into natural disaster events, and argues that disaster risk is not inevitable and offers examples of good practice in disaster risk reduction that can be built into ongoing development planning policy.