EDITORIAL - Risk management

Exploding populations, poverty, poor planning and climate change are making the so-called mega-cities in the Asia-Pacific more vulnerable to natural disasters, according to a study undertaken by the Asian Development Bank.

Since the 1980s, according to the ADB, the Asia-Pacific has borne the brunt of physical and economic damage arising from natural disasters. The region is 25 times more vulnerable to disasters than Europe and North America, and four times more vulnerable than even Africa, according to the ADB study. The ADB estimates that up to 153 million people in the region are vulnerable to disasters including floods and earthquakes. The figure is a huge jump from the 24 million in the 1980s.

The Philippines is keenly aware of the problem. Torrential rains and flooding paralyze Metro Manila a few times every year, with densely populated slums among the most vulnerable. Across the Asia-Pacific, floods have become three times more frequent since the 1980s, according to the ADB study. Outside Metro Manila, landslides, floods and earthquakes strike with depressing regularity, claiming many lives and devastating crops, infrastructure and property. The cost of rebuilding runs into billions; the ADB estimates that restoring infrastructure alone eats up about two-thirds of disaster funds.

From 2000 to 2009, deaths from natural disasters in the Asia-Pacific soared to 651,000 from fewer than 100,000 in the 1980s, according to the study. Yet many governments continue to focus only on disaster relief rather than improvement of defenses, the ADB reported.

Governments aiming for sustained growth must consider significant investments in long-term disaster risk management, according to the ADB. The Philippines, visited regularly by typhoons and lying along the Pacific Ring of Fire, should not need too much prodding to make that investment.