How Prone is India to Disaster?
India has the largest number of people exposed to natural hazards including severe storms and flooding, a new report says.
The country’s vulnerability to severe weather during monsoon season, its large agricultural sector and its enormous population put it at the top of the list compiled by U.K.-based risk-analysis and research company Verisk Maplecroft.
Its research, published last week, concluded that 1.02 billion people in India, or 82% of the population, are exposed to natural hazards, compared with 677 million, or 50% of the population, in China.
The study looked at the risks posed by 11 types of natural hazards such as earthquakes, floods, and wildfires in 198 countries.
Among the world cities most at risk Kolkata ranked sixth, and the Indian capital New Delhi ninth. In such expanding metropolises, poor urban planning and lax building standards mean that natural disasters are felt more severely, the report said.
Strong economic growth hasn’t managed to raise India to the level of other large economies such as the U.S and China in disaster preparedness, the report said—putting future growth at risk.
“In order that the strong economic-growth projections are realized, financial and technical resources are required to build resilience to natural hazards,” the report said. It pointed to the devastation caused by flooding in Chennai in December as evidence of the need “for improvement in the country’s disaster-risk management.”
The report ranked India as a “high-risk” country, at 49th in vulnerability, a measure of the capacity of its private and public sectors to prepare for, respond to and recover from a natural hazard. Nine of the 10 most-vulnerable countries are in sub-Saharan Africa. The U.S., ranked 173rd, is considered low-risk.
India has made some advances in the past 10 years, the report added. It singled out the government’s approach to Cyclone Phailin in October 2013.
It said improved communication between forecasters, government agencies and the public held the death toll to 100 people, compared with at least 10,000 from a similar-size storm in a similar location in 1999.
The company said a total of 1.4 billion people in South Asia are at risk and live in places unable to cope with a disaster.
The number acutely exposed to flood hazard, for example, is 113 million in India, or 9% of the population, plus 76 million in Bangladesh and 10 million in Pakistan. And the danger of flood could grow, the report added, with climate change, which could also increase drought dangers.
“This data highlights the scale of the task facing governments and business in mitigating the threats to populations and workforces from natural hazards in these high-risk regions,” said James Allan, director of environment at Verisk Maplecroft. “With overseas investment pouring into the emerging Asian markets, companies have an increasing responsibility to understand their exposure and work with governments to build resilience.”
The 10 populations most exposed to natural hazards:
India
China
Bangladesh
Indonesia
Philippines
U.S.
Japan
Nigeria
Brazil
Pakistan
The 10 cities with the most exposed populations:
Manila
Tokyo
Jakarta
Dongguan
Dhaka
Kolkata
Osaka
Mexico City
Delhi
São Paolo
SOURCE: blogs.wsj.com - http://blogs.wsj.com/indiarealtime/2016/03/28/how-prone-is-india-to-disaster/
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Source: ASSOCIATED PRESS
