Culture Change Needed to Avert Growing Disaster Risk

Culture Change Needed to Avert Growing Disaster Risk

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A culture change is needed if the benefits of development, such as new jobs and hospitals, are not to be destroyed in future natural disasters. A new report, ‘Reducing Risks of Future Disasters: Priorities for Decision Makers’, published by the UK government, calls on all development stakeholders — including aid and development funders, governments and industry — to consider the implications of their actions on disaster risk and to routinely use the best available evidence on the threat of disasters to inform their decisions.

More concerted action is needed to avert future disasters amid rising risks, the report says. It points out that earthquakes and emerging infectious diseases could have a particularly serious impact on megacities in the near future, as could stronger cyclones in developing countries.