Official Bank Sites Related Publications Related Information October 11, 2006—Would drought devastate Angola’s population? What kind of impact would flooding have on China’s economy? These are the kinds of questions a new Natural Disasters Hotspots website hosted by the World Bank can answer. The interactive, GIS-based website reveals the most vulnerable places on earth at a glance—the countries most prone to six major hazards: droughts, flooding, cyclones, earthquakes, landslides and volcanos. And it shows how natural disasters could affect a country’s population or economy. The Bank and its partners launched the website October 11 along with a new report, Natural Disaster Hotspots Case Studies, and a new program, Global Risk Identification Program (GRIP), designed to encourage countries and development institutions to plan ahead for natural disasters. A companion volume to Case Studies was released in 2005. The idea behind the Hotspots research, says World Bank disaster specialist Margaret Arnold, is to try to minimize the impact of natural disasters, especially in the developing world, and to save lives. “We see the big events that the media covers—the earthquakes and tsunamis—but there are smaller events every day that wipe out poor communities, and bury them even further into poverty. “So all we’re doing to help people, when we talk about sustainable development, is not going to happen if we don’t consider this as well.” The Hotspots website builds on the research for the books and incorporates hazard data from several sources, including original research on landslide risk. Part of the new GRIP program involves adding data for hazards for which data currently doesn’t go back very far (only 20 years, in the case of cyclones). The website maps mortality risk and economic loss risk, and lists disaster related projects by country. Population and GDP hazard exposure is calculated for 28 combinations of seven World Bank regions and four country wealth classes. Data contributors are partners in the ProVention Consortium including the Bank, the United Nations’ Bureau for Crisis Prevention and Reduction, and the Earth Institute at Columbia University. Arnold says the website represents the “first step” toward making disaster planning routine in World Bank planning and project design. |
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