Contacts Sergio Jellinek +1-202-458-2841 Sjellinek@worldbank.org Kristyn Schrader +1-202-458-2736 Kschrader@worldbank.org WASHINGTON, October 11, 2006 – The World Bank today calls for governments to have comprehensive hazard approaches in avoiding natural disasters, which killed more than 90,000 people and affected more than 150 million lives in 2005 – a record year of natural disaster-related incidents, according to the new World Bank/Columbia University report released today entitled Natural Disaster Hotspots: Case Studies. The 360 natural disasters in 2005 caused $159 billion in damage (of which, $125 billion were losses caused by Hurricane Katrina in the US), a 71 percent increase over the total losses of $93 billion in 2004. According to the report, the impacts of population and economic growth, rapid urbanization, environmental degradation, and climate change are a few of the factors that will continue to fuel this trend unless something is done to reduce disaster risks. “Natural hazards and their impacts,” said Katherine Sierra, World Bank Vice President for Sustainable Development, “will continue to evolve throughout the 21st Century due to changing socioeconomic conditions, coastal land use, and climatic risks. These reports, which provide the mostcomprehensive, accurate data of multi-hazard hotspots to date, can help improve disaster risk assessment globally and locally.” The Case Studies analyses released today follow on the Natural Disasters Hotspots: A Global Risk Analysis that was released in 2005. The global- and local-scale hotspots analyses are complementary. While the 2005 global analysis looked at disaster risks associated with six major natural hazards (cyclones, droughts, earthquakes, floods, landslides, and volcanoes), the case study volume released today looks at three case studies which address specific hazards – landslides, storm surges, and drought – as well as three other case studies that address regional multi-hazard situations in Sri Lanka, the Tana River basin in Kenya, and the city of Caracas, Republic Bolivariana de Venezuela. § Landslides – This study and corresponding dataset comprise the first comprehensive assessment of landslides at the global scale. The main objective of this study is to perform a data-based, first-order identification of geographic areas that form the global landslide risk disaster hotspots on an international scale, with the main emphasis on developing countries. This includes combining the identified hazard and vulnerability, for people and infrastructure, to determine risk. § Storm surges – Surges are changes in sea level (either positive or negative) resulting from variations in atmospheric pressure and associated winds. While surges are only one aspect of the impacts of a storm, they are the main killer, and surges have led to several million deaths over the last two centuries, mainly in Asia and particularly in Bangladesh. The death toll in surge events appears to have fallen substantially around the world as protection measures and forecasts/warnings are improved, including most recently in Bangladesh. § Drought – Drought ranks as the natural hazard with the greatest negative impact on human livelihood. An objective comparison was undertaken between the monthly disaster reports and two climate-based estimates of drought. Even at the country level, and with limited data, a relationship can be discerned between both climatic measures of drought and the incidence of drought disasters in the region. In fact, the climate drought estimate based on the 12-month ‘Weighted Anomaly Standardized Precipitation’ (WASP) index matches all reported drought disasters for Israel, Afghanistan, Syria, Pakistan, Armenia, and Malaysia, encompassing seven matches. § Sri Lanka – The analysis is carried out in the context of civil wars that, together, extended from 1983 to 2002. During this period, natural disasters accounted for 1,483 fatalities, while civil wars accounted for more than 65,000. The study addressed only those hazards related to droughts, floods, landslides, and cyclones. Drought is the most significant natural hazard in terms of people affected and relief provided. The relief disbursements for drought between 1950 and 1985 were SL Rs 89 million (approximately US$1 million), whereas floods accounted for only SL Rs 7.5 million. § Kenya – The aim of this study is to contribute towards sustainable flood preparedness for improved livelihoods protection against any future flood events, specifically targeting local communities that live along the riverine and flood plains in the Tana River and Garissa districts. In the worst-case scenario, pastoralists and dry riverine communities are expected to experience the worst losses. The study determined that assistance should take the form of free food distribution and income generating activities, as the analysis has shown that for all of the groups, income, daily food consumption, and nutrition are tied to livestock and crop production, both of which may completely collapse in any flood scenario. § Venezuela – Located at the intersection of the South American and Caribbean Plates, northern Venezuela faces extreme seismological hazards. The natural hazards faced by northern Venezuela are not limited to earthquakes. The position of the northern coast near 10°N ensures frequent heavy rainfall events with strong erosion potential. It is clear that natural hazards affect the Caracas urban environment, so a strategic planning process, designed to identify the city’s ability to cope with the forces of nature, was initiated. In order to accomplish this, certain critical facilities (for example, the Caracas-Vargas highway) were identified based on their importance both during and after a potential natural disaster. Margaret Arnold, Senior Program Officer, said that, “Taken together, the global analysis and case studies provide strong evidence of the importance of employing proactive, comprehensive approaches in disaster risk management. Given resource constraints and the multiple roles played by key infrastructure – such as roads, railroads, and ports in disaster preparedness, emergency response, reconstruction, and ongoing economic activity – it is vital that planners and decision makers at all levels have a sound appreciation of the hazards prevalent in their specific regions on concern, along with associated vulnerabilities.” “Moreover,” Arnold continued, “they need to understand the potential interactions among these hazards, whether direct – for example, storms that initiate both floods and landslides – or indirect – such as consecutive hazards that deplete natural resources and strain response capacities.” For policy makers, planners, and the humanitarian aid sector as a whole, these risk analyses contribute to understanding the scale of a hazard, estimated costs, and, most important, to identifying vulnerable groups. This information can help improve emergency preparedness in order to save lives and assets in the event of a hazard event. Moreover, they are critical to informing development efforts in order to make them truly sustainable.
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