Imagine relocating the entire population of your country in the face of a colossal hurricane and two months later still not being able to get back home. Now imagine spending several nights in a shelter and taking a stroll the next morning only to find what you used to call…...
Integrating disaster risk reduction and climate action for resilience
Scientists have long advised that the peak intensity of severe storms would increase as temperatures rise, and in addition, the time taken to achieve these new peaks would be shortened. The 2017 hurricane season in the Caribbean is evidence of this, with a higher frequency of more intense hurricanes. The…...
Irma, Harvey, Maria and beyond: We need to talk about finance
Heavy-hitting and repeated cyclones in the Caribbean, intense and devastating flooding across South Asia – and this in just the last few weeks. Unabated, unmanaged disaster risk is wreaking havoc across our planet, killing, destroying and setting back progress. A few months ago, not far away from where Harvey, Irma…...
Ending poverty in the next 13 years means boosting resilience now
This month the world marks two key International Days: for the Eradication of Poverty on 17 October and for Disaster Reduction, four days earlier. It is no coincidence that they are profoundly connected. Reducing risks related to disasters has never been so urgent—and the Latin America and the Caribbean region…...