Cyclone Hudhud In Ap And Odisha Caused Losses Worth Us $11Billion:un

[thedarkknight]

yclone Hudhud that lashed India's south-eastern coast was the second costliest disaster of 2014 in Asia-Pacific regioncausing losses worth USD 11 billion, a UN report on Thursday said while praising the disaster preparedness and "timely" evacuation that saved many lives.

The 41 fatalities associated with the cyclone, a Category 4 storm that hit coastal Andhra Pradesh and Odisha in October, were considered "relatively low.

The report presents a diagnostic analysis of the region's state of resilience and lessons learnt.

The highest economic losses in Asia and the Pacific were incurred from river-basin floods, USD16 billion, and Cyclone Hudhud in India, said the report titled 'The Natural Disastersin Asia and the Pacific: 2014 Year in Review.'

The other costliest disasters were Ludian earthquake in China (USD6 billion), and the tropical cyclones Lingling and Kajiki in Japan (USD5.2 billion), said the report released today by UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific.

"The successful preparation for cyclone Hudhud and typhoon Hagupit lies not only in the ability to predict the movement and intensity of storms, but also the capacity to engage and mobilise vulnerable communities in disaster preparedness," said Shamika Sirimanne, Director of ESCAP's ICT and Disaster Risk Reduction Division.

The report said: "The local government made arrangements to shift half a million people...Timely and massive evacuation saved lives."

"These disasters also show, as countries grow rapidly, their assets and especially their critical infrastructure, are increasingly exposed to disasters," it said.

The report further said the region experienced severe storms, cross-border floods and landslides, which accounted for 85% of all disasters in 2014.

In total, India incurred USD 27 billion of economic losses, which is at least 45 per cent of the Asia-Pacific region's total losses.

China reported losses of 23 billion dollars from disasters in 2014.

Trans-boundary floods that affected India and Pakistan resulted in losses of at least USD 18 billion, the largest of which was the river basin flood in Kashmir that caused 1,281 fatalities and USD 16 billion in damages.

According to the report, the Asia-Pacific region experienced five severe droughts in 2014, which affected 31.5 million people.

In total, over 6,000 fatalities were caused by natural disasters, compared to 18,744 deaths in 2013.

Approximately 79.6 million people were affected by natural disasters across the region.

The report calls for greater attention to slow-onset disasters, such as droughts, which receive the least attention but affect the poorest of the poor in the region.

The report notes the integral role of regional cooperation for sharing real-time information of storms, floods and other disasters, and helping to forecast hazards and disseminate early warning information across countries.

Leaders and decision-makers across Asia and the Pacific are preparing to finalise a new global framework for disaster risk reduction, which will replace the 2005 Hyogo Framework for Action in March 2015 in Sendai, Japan.

The report said the lessons from 2014 clearly show that building resilience remains a key priority in protecting lives and assets in the Asia and the Pacific. 

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