Disaster Risk Analysis from The Economist

A report released this week, Towards Disaster-Risk Sensitive investments: The Disaster Risk-Integrated Operational Risk Model, presents the results of a pilot study of the Economist Intelligence Unit’s model conducted from January to April this year in twenty disaster-prone locations: Australia, Bangladesh, China, Greece, Haiti, Honduras, India, Italy, Japan, Laos, Madagascar, Niger, Papua New Guinea, Peru, Philippines, Russia, the Republic of Korea, Taiwan, Tajikistan, and the United States. Only Australia, Italy, the Republic of Korea , Taiwan and the USA are judged to have a “mature” approach to economic resilience. (The findings with respect to the U.S. surprised us!)  The Economist model, developed with UNISDR’s Risk Knowledge Services division, is built around five pillars: institutional framework; disaster risk-reduction policy, preparedness and response; economic resilience; societal resilience; and resilience of the physical environment. They are measured according to 23 separate indicators, both qualitative and quantitative. It is great reading. Download the report for free at this link.