By Denis McClean

GENEVA, 18 March 2020 – A UN effort to improve reporting on disaster losses by UN member States has been made public today to mark the 5th anniversary of the adoption of the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction at a UN World Conference in Sendai, Japan, on March 18, 2015.

The Sendai Framework is the most comprehensive plan ever adopted by UN Member States to reduce disaster losses. It applies to both man-made and natural hazards including related technological, environmental and biological hazards such as the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Sendai Framework Monitor was put in place two years ago to allow countries to report systematically on their disaster losses including mortality, numbers of people affected, economic losses and damage to critical infrastructure.

In 2018, 82 countries with a total population of four billion – including 16 least developed and 17 land-locked developing countries – reported 22,000 people dead and 1,900 missing as a result of disasters caused by man-made or natural hazards.

For the same year, 72 countries with a combined population of 3.7 billion, reported that 741,000 people were rendered ill or injured, over 80% in Africa. Some 7.8 million (Asia and the Pacific, 69%) had their homes damaged or destroyed, and close to 25 million (Asia and the Pacific, 74%) had their livelihoods damaged or destroyed

A sample of 63 countries reporting on their direct economic losses for 2018 recorded losses of $13 billion in agriculture out of a total of $17.5 billion in direct economic losses.

These countries included 28 least developed or land-locked developing countries and small island developing States, which reported that agriculture suffered the heaviest losses, followed by damage to critical infrastructure and housing. While these losses did not match Europe in terms of absolute economic value, they were significant as a percentage of GDP and undermined efforts to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) including eradication of poverty.

These details are taken from the online report Monitoring the Implementation of Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015-2030: A Snapshot of Reporting for 2018, released today by the UN Office for Disaster Risk Reduction to mark the 5th anniversary of the Sendai Framework’s adoption.

The Sendai Framework has four targets focused on: reducing global disaster mortality, reducing the number of disaster-affected, reducing economic losses and damage to critical infrastructure, all to be achieved by 2030.