Natural disasters alone are increasing both in frequency and intensity at an alarming rate, even in countries that are traditionally considered low risk are experiencing disasters.

“This pandemic has tested all health systems and national response capacities to the very limit,” revealed Tomoko Kurokawa, regional humanitarian adviser for UNFPA at the Asia Pacific regional office.

“All countries are at risk of collapsing without a sufficient health system support. Some countries in our region have had to deal with double and triple shots as they weathered overlapping natural disasters.”

The changing humanitarian landscape is even more relevant in the Asia-Pacific region, which she said was the most disaster prone region in the world and where the number of people affected by natural disasters was more than four times the rest of the world.

In 2018, she said 50 percent of all the 281 natural disasters occurring globally were in the Asia Pacific, with eight out of the 10 deadliest also in this region.

“We are already seeing the far reaching impacts of the pandemic on employment, economic downturn, protection of human rights, poverty, inequality and social unrest,” Kurokawa said.

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