Asia ‘megacities’ face infrastructure timebomb - ADB
FRANCE: Asian countries dominate a league table of economies most at
risk from earthquakes, floods, storms and other natural hazards,
according to research published on Wednesday.
In an assessment of 197 countries, British risk consultancy
Maplecroft said six Asian countries were among the 10 countries whose
economies were most vulnerable to catastrophes.
The list is headed by Bangladesh and the Philippines, which along
with Myanmar are considered to be at “extreme” risk.
Only one other country, the Caribbean state of Dominican Republic,
falls into this category, and was rated third overall.
The other countries in the top 10 were India, Vietnam, Honduras,
Laos, Haiti and Nicaragua.
The “Nature Hazards Risk Atlas” looks at the impact of natural
disasters on a country relative to its economy, taking into account
preparedness to deal with such events and social ability to rebound.
If a country’s infrastructure is weak and its governance is poor, the
economic consequences are that much greater.
The report highlighted the impact on the Philippine economy from
storms, landslides, volcanoes and floods, including severe flooding that
struck the northern island of Luzon last week.
It also noted the consequences of drought in India, which this year
is likely to shave 0.5 percent off the country’s gross domestic product
(GDP).
The analysis’s other benchmark is the absolute exposure to natural
hazards, meaning the total bill from a disaster. This is different from
relative exposure, which means the economic pain that comes from it.
By the “absolute” yardstick, the countries that face the biggest tabs
when natural catastrophes occur are Japan, the United States, China,
Taiwan and Mexico.
However, they have greater muscle and stronger institutional means to
cope, and this limits the hit to the economy.
“As the global influence of emerging economies increases, the
importance of their inherent natural hazard exposure will have wider and
deeper global implications,” said Maplecroft analyst Helen Hodge.
“The test for emerging and developing economies is to build a
stronger capacity to meet the challenge of hazard-prone environments.
Failure to do so will risk their ambitious economic growth when the
inevitable natural hazards strike.”
According to the reinsurance giant Munich Re, 2011 was the costliest
year ever for natural disasters, inflicting economic losses of $380
billion.
The March 11 2011 earthquake and tsunami accounted for 55 percent of
the total. AFP
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