Mami Mizutori speaks at the ASEAN conference of the World Economic Forum (c) World Economic Forum / Sikarin Thanachaiary

By Jeanette Elsworth

13 September 2018, Ha Noi – Mami Mizutori, the Head of the UN Office for Disaster Risk Reduction, has highlighted the opportunity and benefit to businesses of investing in disaster risk mitigation.

“It’s not enough anymore just to respond,” said Ms Mizutori, who is also the Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Disaster Risk Reduction. “We need to prepare, we need to prevent.”

Ms Mizutori made the comments while speaking at the ASEAN meeting of the World Economic Forum in Vietnam, even as Super Typhoon Mangkhut was building up to hit Taiwan, the Philippines and Hong Kong.

Each year, natural disasters drive 26 million people into poverty. In 2017, a further 11.2 million people were displaced, making natural disaster a larger cause of human displacement than conflict. At the same time, disasters have cost the global economy USD 2.5 trillion since 2000.