The Human Cost of Disasters report

Why in News

•  “The Human Cost of Disasters 2000-2019” report has been published by UNDRR.

About the report:

• The report is published by the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR).
• It said that 7,348 major disaster events had occurred between 2000 and 2019, far more than the 4,212 major natural disasters recorded between 1980 and 1999.
• The sharp increase was largely attributable to a rise in climate-related disasters, including extreme weather events like floods, drought and storms
• The report did not touch on biological hazards and disease-related disasters like the coronavirus pandemic, which has killed over one million people and infected over 37 million in the past nine months.
• The data showed that Asia has suffered the highest number of disasters in the past 20 years with 3,068 such events, followed by the Americas with 1,756 and Africa with 1,192.
• The deadliest single disaster in the past 20 years was the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami, with 2,26,400 deaths, followed by the Haiti earthquake in 2010, which claimed some 2,22,000 lives.
• In terms of affected countries, China topped the list with 577 events followed by the United States with 467 while India had 321.

United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction

• The United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR) was created in December 1999 to ensure the implementation of the International Strategy for Disaster Reduction.
• UNDRR (formerly UNISDR) is part of the United Nations Secretariat and it supports the implementation & review of the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction adopted by the Third UN World Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction.
• The Sendai Framework is a 15-year voluntary people-centred approach to disaster risk reduction, succeeding the 2005-2015 framework.
• UNDRR is headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland.

PRELIMS QUESTION

The Human Cost of Disasters report is published by
(a)UNESCO
(b)United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction
(c)World Economic Forum
(d)UN HABITAT

Answer to Prelims Question