AsPac running out of capacity to respond to natural disasters

MANILA, Philippines — Countries in the Asia Pacific region may be straining their capacity to cope with the ill-effects of natural disasters to their economies, according to a new report by the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UNESCAP).

According to the Asia-Pacific Disaster Report 2019, the growing disaster risks in the region may be exceeding its capacity to respond as resulting economic losses are set to quadruple.

The report showed that recent disasters that hit the region – especially those triggered by climate change and environmental degradation – have deviated from usual tracks and are growing in intensity, frequency and complexity.

“It is now more difficult to determine which areas should prepare for what kind of disaster,” the report said.

UNESCAP estimates the annual economic loss for Asia and the Pacific at $675 billion, or around 2.4 percent of the region’s economic output, of which $405 billion or 60 percent are drought-related agricultural losses. As such, the impact of this is seen more on the rural poor.

The report said countries across the region have committed to attain the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by 2030, but may miss out on many of the SDG targets if their people are not protected from disasters that threaten to reverse hard-won development gains.

This means not just building resilience in the priority zones, but doing so across the entire region – reaching the most marginal and vulnerable communities.

The report identifies four distinct hotspots in the region with critical socioeconomic vulnerabilities. They include the transboundary river basins of South and South-East Asia; the Pacific Ring of Fire in South-East Asia and East and North-East Asia; sand and dust storm corridors in East and North-East Asia, South and South-West Asia and Central Asia; and climate-related hazards in the Pacific Small Island Developing States.

In the Philippines, it is estimated that 75.8 percent of the population is found to be living in high-multi-hazard risk areas.

Even the high-income population in the country is hardly spared from environmental hazards as the report shows that there is a near 40 percent probability that the wealthiest 20 percent of the population resides in high-multi-hazard risk areas.

As such, disasters can easily undo their economic gains.

For the agricultural poor, there is around 20 percent probability that they are living in high risk areas.

The report recommends that social policies and disaster resilience should no longer be treated as separate policy domains.

Policymakers are also urged to improve the quality of investments and to make these more inclusive, making sure vulnerable groups are not excluded from the benefits of investments.

It likewise urges the use of emerging technologies such as big data and digital identities to ensure inclusion of vulnerable groups in policy interventions.

The Asia-Pacific Disaster Report is a bi-annual flagship publication of ESCAP which aims to assist policymakers, in both public and private sectors, to better understand disaster risk and resilience and take opportunities for action.