Global Assessment Report on Disaster Risk Reduction 2013
Report

Global Assessment Report on Disaster Risk Reduction 2013

From Shared Risk to Shared Value: The Business Case for Disaster Risk Reduction

United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction
United Nations, 2013
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Editorial Rating

9

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Recommendation

Those deciding where to invest must first determine their exposure to the risk of natural disaster. Profit alone doesn’t seem to be enough to spur investors to reduce exposure to hazardous locations – hence developers persist in building on floodplains. Population growth in coastal areas indicates real estate investment run amok. This third biennial report from the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction finds that many countries lack data on past disasters, and do not pay attention to the probability of future catastrophes or to the “shared costs” of pollution, land degradation and unsound development in disaster-prone locations. Yet, another trend that emerges from this comprehensive overview of global risk management is that some multinational companies are now managing their initial exposure to the risk of disaster rather than just planning for post-disaster business continuity. The report’s highlights include national-level data on disaster losses from 56 countries. getAbstract recommends this in-depth overview of global disaster risk and the general absence of risk restraint to entrepreneurs, investors, NGOs, insurers and government policy makers.

Summary

The Prominence of the Private Sector

In 2009 and 2011, the UN Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNISDR) reported on ways governments can reduce disaster risk. The 2009 report emphasized that the risk of intense disasters concentrates disproportionately among countries with low incomes and feeble governance. In 2011, the agency detailed increasing levels of disaster risk and unsuccessful public efforts to halt unnecessary exposure to losses from cyclones, earthquakes and floods. In its latest report, the agency turns its attention to the private sector.

For an example of the effects of a disaster on the private sector, consider the Port of Kobe. Before an earthquake struck on January 17, 1995, in the south part of the Hyogo Prefecture in Japan, Kobe was the world’s sixth-busiest port. The earthquake killed 6,437 people and inflicted some $100 billion of damage, including $100 million at Kobe’s seaport. Japan rebuilt the broken port, but it never recovered. In 2003, it was the world’s 23rd-busiest; by the end of 2010, it fell to 47th. As Kobe’s experience illustrates, the private sector bears a substantial stake in disaster risk management. Among other concerns, some...

About the Author

The United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNISDR) supports and coordinates efforts to build national resilience to disasters and to reduce the risk of disaster-related losses.

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