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Countries must improve resilience to disasters, OECD says
Smarter planning for natural and man-made disasters that increases collaboration between countries and encourages households and businesses to take more responsibility would improve resilience and reduce future economic losses, a new Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) report has said
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marter planning for natural and man-made disasters that increases collaboration between countries and encourages households and businesses to take more responsibility would improve resilience and reduce future economic losses, a new Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) report has said.
The 'Boosting Resilience through Innovative Risk Governance' report estimates that earthquakes, social unrest, industrial accidents, terror attacks, pandemics and other disruptive events cost advanced and emerging nations around US$1.5 trillion in damages and economic losses over the last decade, more than double what they suffered over the previous 10 years.
Without action, these costs could rise further as climate change, higher concentration of people and assets in risk-prone areas and closer economic links between countries mean the impact of such events spreads more quickly across borders and business sectors.
'These disruptive events are happening more frequently and our ever-denser cities and interconnected economies mean the costs are getting higher all the time,' OECD director for public governance and territorial development, Rolf Alter, said in a release made available to The Jakarta Post on Monday.
He was speaking during the launch of the report at the OECD Forum in Paris, France.
'Smarter risk management to improve our resilience to shocks is the only way to lessen the impact on societies and economies,' he said.
The report identifies weaknesses that risk driving up future losses. These include lapses in maintenance of protective infrastructure, a failure of regulatory reform to keep pace with new risk patterns, deficiencies at some private-sector providers of key infrastructure like energy and insufficient investment by individuals to protect assets.
The report finds that one country's failure to properly manage a major risk can have a serious impact on others.
'Governments should take action to raise public awareness and reduce over-reliance on the state for covering the cost of disasters,' the report said.
It recommends making better use of financial incentives to encourage businesses and people to have contingency plans with regards to economic risks, and more national and international coordination and data sharing as a way to lessen the cost of natural disasters.
OECD ministers will discuss the report during the Organization's annual ministerial meeting in Paris on May 6 to 7 May, which is aimed at issuing formal recommendations for governments to take concrete measures. (ebf)
