Whether it is Thailand, which has seen some of its worst flooding in half a century, Japan, which was devastated by the tsunami and earthquake earlier this year, or the Philippines, which has experienced various natural disasters in recent years, the tragedies affecting these countries serve as a call throughout the Asia and Pacific region to build and vigilantly maintain resilience to catastrophes.

Damage is usually bigger and more widespread in Asia and the Pacific, where a high number of people live in risk-prone areas, for example along rivers and coasts that are vulnerable to flooding and storm surges. Other risk-prone areas are informal settlements where residents have few resources and incentives to invest in risk reduction measures and receive only limited public services. Communities also become vulnerable to disasters when there are insufficient building codes and poor enforcement of codes and land use planning. Lastly, Asia and the Pacific have some of the lowest penetration rates for catastrophe insurance in the world, thus access to insurance and other forms of disaster risk financing are inadequate.

ADB believes that one of the reasons why Asian countries are more damaged by natural disasters is poverty. Poverty is a major driver of vulnerability in disaster events. Poor families, usually living in informal settlements in risk-prone areas, have limited access to economic resources and find it difficult to weather these disasters. Damage is further exacerbated if families depend on livelihood that is easily affected by such events.

To address these threats ADB promotes an integrated disaster risk management (IDRM) approach that combines disaster risk reduction, elements of climate change adaptation, and disaster risk financing. Disaster risk reduction and climate change adaptation are essential for helping avoid and reduce vulnerability to natural hazards. ADB's initiatives in these areas support member countries in developing their capacities to manage disaster risk at national and city levels more proactively, thereby yielding greater opportunity to reduce vulnerabilities, enhance climate resilience and respond faster to impacts.

Did you know?

• Disasters continue to erode development gains throughout Asia and the Pacific, a region that generates one quarter of the world's GDP.
• Asia and the Pacific account for 42% of global economic losses and 85% of deaths as a result of natural hazard impacts.
• On average $15 billion is required each year to restore infrastructure and economic momentum in Asian countries affected by disasters.

Some recent significant disasters in the Asia and Pacific Region

Earthquakes

Tsunamis

Storms

Floods

Others

Keys to reducing risk*

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