25 August 2016: Inadequate infrastructure and weak logistic chains increase the risk that an extreme natural event, such as an earthquake or flood, will become a disaster, according to the ‘WorldRiskReport 2016.’ The report, published by the UN University Institute for Environment and Human Security (UNU-EHS) and Bündnis Entwicklung Hilft – Gemeinsam für Menschen in Not e.V., analyzes the role of infrastructure and logistics in determining a country’s disaster risk.
The report contends that following a disaster, much of the current focus is on short-term relief rather than on ensuring resilient infrastructure is in place prior to a disaster occurring, which can prevent the “often-catastrophic consequences” of natural hazards and help in distributing humanitarian aid. It describes critical infrastructure related to energy, information technology and telecommunication, transport and traffic, health, water, food, finance and insurance, state and administration, and media and culture.
During the report’s launch, which took place on 25 August 2016, in Berlin, Germany, speakers urged the international community to invest more in development and maintenance of critical infrastructure before disasters occur, and emphasized the increasing importance of locally-organized humanitarian aid.
To determine risk, the report uses the WorldRiskIndex, which addresses: the likelihood of an extreme natural event and how it will affect people; vulnerability to natural hazards; the extent to which societies can cope with acute disasters; and whether society is taking preventive measures to deal with future natural hazards. It consists of four components: exposure to natural hazards; susceptibility; coping capacities (the ability to minimize the negative impacts of natural hazards and climate change through action and with available resources); and adaptive capacities (longer-term processes and abilities to address the negative impacts of future natural hazards and climate change). According to the report, vulnerability combines susceptibility, lack of coping capacities and lack of adaptive capacities, and relates to factors that increase vulnerability to the impacts of natural hazards and the adverse impacts of climate change. The WorldRiskIndex is calculated by multiplying exposure and vulnerability.
The Index assesses disaster risk in 171 countries through a combined analysis of 28 indicators related to five natural hazards (earthquakes, cyclones, floods, droughts and sea-level rise) and 23 societal vulnerabilities, including nutrition, medical services and governance. The WorldRiskReport indicates that the global hotspot regions of risk have not changed in comparison to the previous years, and continue to be located in Oceania, Southeast Asia, Central America and the Southern Sahel.
The Index shows that, as in the analyses of previous years, most of the countries with the highest susceptibility are in the Sahel Zone and in the tropical areas of Africa, with Haiti being the only country among the top 15 that does not belong to the African continent. As for coping capacities, the cartographic representation in the Index shows hotspot regions in Africa and Asia. The hotspot regions for the lack of adaptive capacities can be found mainly in West Africa and the Sahel zone, as well as in parts of Southeast Asia. The Index also shows that the countries with the highest vulnerabilities can be found mainly on the African continent, with the exception of Haiti and Afghanistan.
In 2015, the UN recorded 346 disasters, affecting almost 100 million people, causing more than 22,000 deaths and costing US$66.5 billion. The first WorldRiskReport was published in 2011. [UNU Press Release] [UNU Press Release] [Publication: WorldRiskReport 2016]