Reducing Disaster Risk,a Challenge for Development,a Global Report

About 75 per cent of the world's population live in areas which have been affected by earthquake, tropical cyclone, flood or drought at least once during the last two decades. This publication examines the close links between such natural disaster risk and human development processes, using a Disaster Risk Index (DRI) to measure the relative vulnerability of countries to three key natural hazards: earthquakes, tropical cyclones and floods. The report identifies development factors that can contribute to disaster risk, and offers examples of good practice in disaster risk reduction that can be built into ongoing development planning policy. Issues highlighted include the need for: appropriate governance if risk considerations are to be factored into development planning to mitigate existing risks; factoring risk into disaster recovery and reconstruction; and gaps in knowledge for disaster risk assessment to be addressed.