Asia-Pacific suffered tens of billions of dollars in damage due to natural disasters in 2014

In 2014, the Asia-Pacific region experienced 226 natural disasters with economic losses of nearly 60 billion USD. This is according to statistics released by the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) on February 25.

Hudhud was the costliest storm of 2014, causing $11 billion in damage. Source: youtube.com

According to the United Nations report on "Natural Disasters in Asia-Pacific: 2014 Year in Review" by ESCAP, the level of material damage caused by natural disasters in the region in 2014 remained high, showing the weak resilience of the regional economy.

River basin floods caused the most damage, with a total loss of $16 billion, followed by Cyclone Hudhud in India with $11 billion and the Ludian earthquake in China with $6 billion.

According to ESCAP, natural disasters in the region last year affected the lives of about 80 million people and killed more than 6,000. Fortunately, the number of people killed by natural disasters in 2014 was much lower than the 18,744 people killed the year before.

The biggest lesson learned from the disasters of 2014 was the importance of early warning systems in saving lives, said Shamika Sirimanne, ESCAP’s director of disaster risk reduction. Lessons learned from dealing with disasters also show that the top priority must be given to protecting lives and property during disasters and building resilience after disasters.

According to Vietnam+