New research published by the Center for Security Studies (CSS) at ETH Zurich explores the impact of climate-exacerbated hazards on the financial costs of disasters, especially in light of the growing vulnerability of societies across the globe. Governments increasingly finance a larger share of disaster costs through post-disaster measures, which strains their finances. However, the negative financial impact on governments can be minimised by reducing risk and optimising the allocation of pre-disaster resources. The paper identifies four critical points for managing disaster costs effectively: investing in disaster risk reduction, linking investments in risk reduction and financing, developing adequate disaster risk financing strategies and mechanisms before disasters occur, and incorporating disaster cost considerations into government decision-making. The Sendai Framework is primarily natural hazard-based but equally applies to managing disaster costs consideration and government-level decision-making for human-induced and man-made hazards.
Click here to read the research report published by CSS Analyses in Security Policy.