UN Representative: Asia Should Step Up to Reduce Disaster Risk

Added by James Morley on November 29, 2010

The United Nations (UN) believes that governments from Asia should be spending more on measures which would lead to a reduction of disaster risks.

The UN’s advice comes to help Asia improve population’s access to education, health and reduce poverty by year 2015, measures required by the Millenium Development Goals (MDGs).

At a meeting between Asian parliamentarians, the United Nations special representative Margareta Wahlstrom who deals with reducing disaster risk stated that Asian governments should direct a minimum of one per cent out of their budget towards projects that would help with reducing disaster risk.

“If we are going to achieve MDG targets for which governments have allocated some budget, perhaps we could consider increasing disaster risk reduction funds; otherwise you can’t achieve these goals. Disaster risk reduction will contribute to reducing poverty through ensuring that people’s assets are not destroyed during disasters, particularly in countries where there is very low insurance coverage,” stated Margareta Wahlstrom.

The UN special representative further added that the coverage of insurance is enough in only 30 per cent of Asian countries.

The Center for Research on Epidemiology of Disasters stated that last year, out of over 330 natural disasters worldwide, approximately 40 per cent took place in Asia.