13 October is International Day for Disaster Risk Reduction, and this year’s theme is “Fighting Inequality for a Resilient Future.”
Key messages from the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction on this year’s campaign;
- Poverty, inequality and discrimination are causes and consequences of growing disaster risk.
- Inequality creates the conditions that render people exposed and vulnerable to disasters. Disasters also disproportionately impact the poorest and most at-risk people, thus worsening inequality. Reducing vulnerability to disasters requires addressing these dimensions
- By 2030, with current climate projections, the world will face 560 disasters each year. An estimated 37.6 million people will live in extreme poverty due to climate change and disasters by 2030. A “worst case” scenario of climate change and disasters will push an additional 100.7 million into poverty by 2030.
- We can curb the destructive power of hazards—in other words, stop them from turning into disasters—through careful and coordinated planning designed to reduce people’s exposure and vulnerability to harm.
- Greater investments are needed to collect and use disaggregated data to understand disproportionate disaster impacts and exposure better and inform resilience-building plans.
Read more about International Disaster Risk Reduction Day from UNDRR.