Crisis Prevention and Recovery

Natural Disaster Risk Reduction

Economic losses and human devastation caused by natural disaster events have escalated in recent years. In the first half of 2006 alone, 174 disaster events occurred in 68 countries, affecting 28 million people and damaging property and assets valued at more than USD$6 billion.

While natural disasters erode development gains and compromise a country’s prospects for achieving the Millennium Development Goals, it is through risk-sensitive development planning that countries can help reduce disaster risks. Otherwise, a rush for growth can increase vulnerability to natural disasters and exacerbate their impact.

In order to make informed development choices, national actors and local communities need disaster risk reduction knowledge and capabilities. UNDP supports national counterparts to develop both a disaster risk perspective and the human, financial, technical and legislative capacity; civil society preparedness; and coordination systems required to effectively manage and reduce risk.

In an effort to keep abreast of emerging issues related to disaster risk, UNDP also collaborates with partners working on climate change to integrate climate-related risks into its own development strategies.