New Report on Strengthening Disaster Resilience by Tom McDermott

SEMRU member, Dr Tom McDermott, has co-authored a new report for the Asian Development Bank. The chapter, entitled ‘Strengthening Disaster Resilience’, is the thematic chapter in the annual Asian Development Outlook report for 2019.

Over the past half century, developing Asia has transformed from one of the world’s poorest regions to its center of its economic gravity. Almost all Asian economies are now at least middle income, yet they are also among the most heavily affected by natural hazards that become disasters and the most exposed to the consequences of climate change. More than four in five people affected by such disasters from 2000 to 2018 lived in developing Asia. Although advanced and developing countries alike are exposed to various types of disaster risk, the consequences tend to be more severe in developing countries, where disasters disproportionally affect the poor and marginalized. Understanding and addressing disaster risk in developing Asia, where it has become a growing threat to development and prosperity, has thus become a critical challenge in research, policy, and practice. Continue reading…