The mission of the World Bank is to fight poverty. An important part of this mission is providing assistance to prepare for and recover from natural or man-made disasters that can result in great human and economic losses. Indeed, developing countries suffer the greatest costs when a disaster hits - more than 95 percent of all deaths caused by disasters occur in developing countries; and losses due to natural disasters are 20 times greater (as a percentage of GDP) in developing countries than in industrialized countries.
On April 25, 2008 Wael Zakout, ECSSD Sector Manager, visited Uzbekistan to hold a presentation on World Bank Program in Disaster Management in Europe and Central Asia. The round table participants included the representatives of Ministry of Health, Ministry of Agriculture and Water Resources, Ministry of Emergency Situations, State Committee on Nature Protection, Ministry of Finance, Hydrometeorology Center and other relevant agencies. The presenter briefed the authorities on new emerging ideas on the financial instruments with respect to the disaster risk reduction agenda of Uzbekistan.
The audience exchanged ideas on the development of National Hazard Risk Management and Adaptation Strategies, including vulnerability assessment and hazard mapping; Disaster Risk Financing and Hedging Instruments (catastrophe insurance and weather derivatives) and many other important issues.
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