Overview

Disaster is a serious disruption of the functioning of a community or a society involving widespread human, material, economic or environmental losses and impacts, which exceeds the ability of the affected community or society to cope using its own resources.1 Global data shows that the natural disaster events have increased in the past 100 years from less than 10 events per year to about 400 events per year. During 2005 to 2014, Asia-Pacific region witnessed 1,625 reported disaster events in which approximately 500,000 people lost their lives, around 1.4 billion people were affected and there was $523 billion worth of economic damage.3 The population at risk in the Asia-Pacific region is very high as reportedly around 740 million city dwellers in this region are living in multi-hazard hotspots that are vulnerable to floods, earthquakes, cyclones and landslides. According to Global Assessment Report on Disaster Risk Reduction 2015, the cost of disasters worldwide has reached an average of$250 billion to $300 billion every year. Climate change is expected to impact societies and increase their vulnerabilities to various hydro meteorological disasters which would have a disastrous impact on developing countries. Although it is impossible to eliminate disaster risk, its impact can be minimized by planning, preparing and building capacities for mitigation, coupled with prompt action. Traditionally, disaster management consisted primarily of reactive mechanisms wherein response was the main focus area instead of a more comprehensive approach involving participation from communities and all other stakeholders on a regular basis. However, the past few years have witnessed a gradual shift towards a more proactive, mitigation-based approach wherein the damage caused by any disaster can be minimized largely by developing early warning systems, careful planning, and prompt action.

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