Protecting development gains: reducing disaster vulnerability and building resilience in Asia and the Pacific

The Asia-Pacific disaster report, 2010:

This report addresses the exponential increase of disaster risks in Asia-Pacific, as a result of the compounding effects of inequitable economic growth patterns, population pressures and extreme climatic events. It is centred on the thinking that good efforts made by Asia-Pacific countries in reducing vulnerability are not enough and that they need to be matched by urgent scaling up of efforts in disaster risk reduction and new multidisciplinary policy approaches. It intends to highlight the unique Asia-Pacific regional issues, and provide policy direction on what can be done better - in order to protect and secure inclusive and sustainable development in the region.

It highlights: (i) the growing exposure to disasters and the subsequent need for good urban governance and ecosystems protection; (ii) the increased socio-economic losses due to disasters in line with poverty; (iii) the new opportunities for reducing risks through making disaster recovery resilient, the improved use of emerging technologies and the need to leverage on regional cooperation; and (iv) the improvement of understanding of the disaster risks of the region through an analysis of historical disaster damage and loss data.