Improving the Assessment of Disaster Risks to Strengthen Financial Resilience: A Special Joint G20 Publication by the Government of Mexico and the World Bank
Responding to a G20 request, the Improving the Assessment of Disaster Risks to Strengthen Financial Resilience: A Special Joint G20 Publication by the Government of Mexico and the World Bank brings together the experiences of G20 countries in protecting their populations and assets against natural hazards. It includes contributions by fifteen G20 members and invited countries (Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Chile, China, Colombia, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Republic of Korea, Mexico, Turkey, United Kingdom, and United States), as well as the OECD. A World Bank paper introduces the country experiences and sets out the challenges and opportunities to address rising disaster losses with more accurate risk data and better informed decision making.
This 2012 publication is a special joint report by the Government of Mexico and the World Bank, produced under Mexico’s G20 presidency and welcomed by G20 finance ministers and central bank governors. It responds to rising disaster losses worldwide — including record costs of up to US$380 billion in 2011 — and the recognition that natural hazards affect countries regardless of economic status, complicating public financial management everywhere.
Drawing together the experiences of G20 countries in protecting their populations and assets, the report makes the case for a more proactive approach to disaster risk management. It emphasizes that prevention is better than cure: governments need to raise awareness of disaster risks and their financial consequences, combine preparedness measures with ex-ante action to reduce risk at its roots, and improve the information available on natural events and their economic, fiscal, and social impacts. A central message is that countries can strengthen their financial resilience by stimulating innovative financial solutions and leveraging the technical and financial capacity of reinsurance and capital markets through public-private partnerships.
While lower-income countries bear the greatest human toll from disasters, the report notes that middle-income countries experience the largest economic impact relative to GDP — underscoring the need for financial resilience strategies across all levels of development.