Global Agenda Council on Disaster Management 2011

Every year, more than 200 million people are affected by droughts, floods, cyclones, earthquakes, wildfires and other hazards. Increased population densities, environmental degradation and global warming add to poverty, making the impacts of natural hazards worse.

The past few years have reminded us that natural hazards can affect anyone, anywhere, anytime. From the Indian Ocean tsunami to the South Asia earthquake, from the devastation caused by hurricanes and cyclones in the United States, the Caribbean and the Pacific, to heavy flooding across Europe and Asia, hundreds of thousands of people have lost their lives and millions have lost their livelihoods to disasters caused by natural hazards. Disaster risk reduction, therefore, is everyone’s business.

While the human misery and crippling economic losses resulting from disasters are obvious, few realize that this devastation can be prevented through disaster risk reduction initiatives. At the heart of these initiatives is the need for collaboration and effective partnerships before, during and after natural disasters.