ADB Pledges to Help Asia Respond to Natural Disasters

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has pledged to increase its support to regional countries to cope with natural disasters. In a recent report entitled “Response to natural disasters and disaster risks”, ADB said there are two ways to deal with this problem: One is to enhance the response to disasters and the other is to better prepare for disasters and adapt to climate change to mitigate impacts.

 

In conjunction with the Japanese Finance Ministry, the bank is formulating a cooperation programme with the World Bank to manage disaster-induced financial risks and offer insurances to ASEAN member countries.

 

In the last two decades, Asia has born half the global economic loss - nearly US$927 billion. The region loses an average of US$40 billion each year to disasters. Countries susceptible to natural disasters that result in great human and economic losses include Vietnam, Bangladesh and the Philippines.