The UN Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR) recently published its report titled “The Human Cost of Disasters”.

The report holds much significance for prelims as well as mains. Just for the sake of information, we must be aware of the report.

Highlights of the report

• 7,348 major disaster events had occurred between 2000 and 2019, claiming 1.23 lives, affecting 4.2 billion people and costing the global economy some $2.97 trillion.
• Of this, China (577 events) and the US (467 events) reported the highest number of disaster events followed by India (321 events).
• Climate change is to be blamed for the doubling of natural disasters in the past 20 years says the report.
• There had also been an increase in geophysical events like earthquakes and tsunamis that are not related to climate but are particularly deadly.

Back2Basics: UN Office for Disaster Risk Reduction

• The UNDRR was established in 1999 as a dedicated secretariat to facilitate the implementation of the International Strategy for Disaster Reduction (ISDR).
• It is headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland.
• It is mandated to serve as the focal point in the UN system for the coordination of disaster reduction and to ensure synergies among the disaster reduction activities.
• It has a vision to substantially reduce disaster risk and losses for a sustainable future with the mandate to act as the custodian of the Sendai Framework to which India is a signatory.

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