Reducing Vulnerability and Exposure to Disasters

The past two years have been challenging ones for the Asia-Pacific region in several respects, but 2011 has been particularly unforgettable for how it has focused the attention of so many people on the crucial matters of life, death and loss. The Great East Japan Earthquake and devastating tsunami, the ensuing nuclear disaster which it provoked, and then the Southeast Asian floods that severely affected South-East Asia, particularly Thailand, were major contributors to the staggering $294 billion in losses from disasters suffered by States in the region during 2011. This amount was 80 per cent of the annual global disaster losses of $366.1 billion; it is even more striking that the region’s single year losses were also 80 per cent of its total disaster losses from the decade 2000-2009. The Asia-Pacific region is the most disaster-prone area of the world and it is also the most seriously affected one. Almost 2 million people were killed in disasters between1970 and 2011, representing 75 per cent of all disaster fatalities globally. The effects of climate extremes and variation suggest that while the number of tropical cyclones (typhoons in Asia and the Pacific) are not increasing in number, more of them are stronger, making the region more susceptible to greater potential losses. This also becomes more serious because of the human contributing factors involved, with more people being exposed to the risk of tropical cyclones.