Top insurers from around the world have called on governments, Saturday, to step up global efforts to build resilience against natural disasters, highlighting that average economic losses from disasters in the last decade amounted to around US $190 billion annually, while average insured losses were at about US $60 billion.
Amid reports that powerful Cyclone Pam has impacted at least half the population of Vanuatu, the country''s President, attending a United Nations conference under way in Japan aiming to reduce disaster risk, appealed for international support in anticipation of large-scale needs.
Integrating disaster risk reduction into development can save lives and livelihoods, United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said as he toured Sendai, Japan, which was devastated four years ago by an earthquake and tsunami but which today, following an impressive rebuilding effort, is a reminder to the world that “we must turn all of the painful lessons of disasters into new policies for a better future.”
The Ebola outbreak in West Africa, powerful storms in the Asia-Pacific region and ongoing conflicts in Syria and elsewhere are all stark reminders that health and stronger health system capacities must be central to the new framework for managing disaster risk currently being discussed in Sendai, Japan, senior United Nations health agency officials emphasized today.
