2005 Reports

Natural Disaster Hotspots: A Global Risk Analysis

Dilley, Maxx; Chen, Robert S.; Deichmann, Uwe; Lerner-Lam, Arthur L.; Arnold, Margaret

Earthquakes, floods, drought, and other natural hazards cause tens of thousands of deaths, hundreds of thousands of injuries, and billions of dollars in economic losses each year around the world. As the recognition grows that natural disaster risk must be addressed as a development issue rather than one strictly of humanitarian assistance, so must our efforts to develop the tools to effectively mainstream disaster risk management into development activities. This project has attempted to develop a global, synoptic view of the major natural hazards, assessing risks of multiple disaster-related outcomes and focusing in particular on the degree of overlap between areas exposed to multiple hazards. The overall goal is to identify geographic areas of highest disaster risk potential in order to better inform development efforts.