Study shows at risk countries underfunded

International donors told to spend on communities in need.

ST. JOHN’S, Antigua, Friday March 23, 2012 - International aid donors are being encouraged to ensure that their spending on disaster risk reduction is in line with the needs of affected communities.

Special representative of the Secretary-general for Disaster Risk Reduction, Margareta Wahlstrom, said a 2011 estimate put costs from disasters at over $1, 380 billion dollars.

These findings, she said, were contained in a study entitled: Disaster Risk Reduction: Spending Where It Should Count. She explained the study highlighted the fact that communities affected by natural disasters and climate change issues were underfunded.

Ms. Wahlstrom said the study pointed out that between 2000 and 2009; $3.7 billion went to 40 of the world’s poorest countries for disaster risk reduction. That, she said, represented one per cent of their overall development aid allocation of $363 billion.

She added this highlighted the fact that something was wrong as the countries accounted for over half of the people affected by disasters, and almost 80 per cent of the deaths.

With this in mind, she urged donors to re-examine their priorities and ensure that their spending on climate change adaptation and disaster risk reduction was in line with the needs of those who required them most. Click here to receive free news bulletins via email from Caribbean360. (View sample)