26 October 2010: The UN International Strategy for Disaster Reduction (UN/ISDR) and the UN Economic Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) have released the Asia-Pacific Disaster Report 2010, on the sidelines of the Fourth Asian Ministerial Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction, which is convening from 24-28 October 2010, in Seoul, Republic of Korea.

The report notes that the region generated one quarter of the world’s gross domestic product (GDP), but also accounted for 85% of deaths and 38% of global economic losses due to natural disasters over the last 30 years. The report analyzes the socioeconomic impact of disasters, and suggests ways of reducing vulnerability to disasters in order to protect development gains.

The report includes sections on: disaster risk in Asia and the Pacific, including a chapter on the impact of climate change on disaster risk; the socioeconomic impacts of disasters; socioeconomic perspectives of reducing vulnerabilities, including chapters on the implications of disasters and climate change for the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), and scaling up climate change adaptation in Asia and the Pacific; making the recovery resilient; capitalizing on new technology; and cooperating across the region. The concluding section of the report highlights the need to: improve risk reduction further, through scaling up vulnerability reduction; make adaptation to climate change more inclusive; and improve further vulnerability reduction along the lines of the Hyogo Framework for Action. [The Report] [ESCAP Press Release] [UN/ISDR Press Release]