Cost of natural disasters predicted to rise, unless steps are taken
The World Bank says the cost of natural disasters in the Pacific will continue to rise if steps are not taken to strengthen infrastructure and improve early warning systems.
Transcript
The World Bank says the cost of natural disasters in the Pacific will continue to rise if steps are not taken to strengthen infrastructure and improve early warning systems.
The Bank has just approved a series of credits and grants in the order of US$45 million dollars to help Pacific nations cope with natural disasters.
The World Bank's Pacific Director Franz Drees-Gross says the Pacific Resilience Program will initially provide assistance to Samoa, Tonga, Marshall Islands and Vanuatu, as well as to the Secretariat of the Pacific Community and the Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat.
FRANZ DREES-GROSS: It's basically it is a programme to support these countries these institutions to prevent disasters or to respond to disasters before they happen. So basically provide early warning systems to these countries so they can monitor cyclones as they come in and prepare populations for their arrival. To basically do multi-sectoral risk reduction and resilience planning. Identify which schools or health centres for example would be the highest priority to basically make more safe in the face of a disaster and then plan the investments that bring those about. So its about early warning systems it is about resilience that needs to be planned for and then implemented. Especially public infrastructure.
KOROI HAWKINS: And why these four particular countries?
FDG: I think we are seeing this as a gradual roll out so if you, as you can see three of the countries Vanuatu, Samoa and Tonga have been hit by cyclones quite recently. So of course we are all very aware of Cyclone Pam that devastated Vanuatu just a couple of months ago. Samoa was hit by Cyclone Evan about two years ago a little over two years ago and Tonga of course the Ha'apai islands were devastated by Cyclone Ian so perhaps those three things, disasters brought into focus some of the early warning systems that needed to be strengthened and some of the losses that might have been prevented had schools for example been built to a higher standard or health centres. So the idea is to start with these four countries, the three I have just mentioned plus Marshalls and then in a second phase of the programme to add others.
KH: And this move reducing, risk reduction before things actually happen is this the most cost efficient way to address the chronic problems with weather and climate in the Pacific.
FDG: Absolutely I think one thing that is foreseeable is that with climate change the intensity of some climate events like cyclones is going to increase in addition as countries develop they have more assets in harms way. So basically doing nothing means that the annual cost that you are going to lose to disasters will grow. And the only way to get ahead of that curve is by having better early warning systems. Those tend to protect human being more than assets however, that is huge. But then on the assets side you have to be very cost effective in how you respond it is impossible to retrofit all public buildings in any country to be a completely climate resilient or disaster resilient but you can work out a plan whereby you prioritise for example which schools are the oldest and have the roof's that are the least well fastened to the sub-structure or you identify which health centres may be in flood prone areas. Things like that so if you are very strategic about it you can actually save a lot of damage and a lot of live by retrofitting only a relatively small part of public infrastructure.
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