Natural disasters can cause unthinkable tolls and continue to disproportionately affect the poorest and most vulnerable. When the category five Cyclone Pam barreled down on Vanuatu in March, the destruction was unprecedented. The largest cyclone to make landfall in the Pacific in recorded history, the storm struck 22 of Vanuatu’s 83 islands, with tides sweeping away entire villages, swallowing infrastructure, and destroying hundreds of acres of crops. With over two-thirds of the population affected, the country’s finance minister described the storm’s impact as “catastrophic– destroying years of development and investments.”
Drivers of climate and disaster risk are making scenarios like this more common. Climate change threatens to worsen extreme weather events like droughts, floods, storms, and heatwaves. Rapid urbanization and unplanned development are putting more people in harm’s way than ever before – more than one million people a week are moving into cities, with 90 percent of urban growth taking place in Africa and Asia. These trends will continue to increase the number and severity of disaster events. In the last decade, there were nearly twice the number of climate-related disasters alone than in the 1980’s.
Fortunately, it’s possible to empower countries like Vanuatu and others to become more resilient. Through technical assistance, capacity building, and knowledge sharing activities, the Global Facility for Disaster Reduction and Recovery (GFDRR) helps vulnerable countries reduce disaster and climate risks and build resilience. In Vanuatu, the GFDRR-supported Pacific Catastrophe Risk Assessment and Financing Initiative (PCRAFI) provided a $1.9 million cash injection within 10 days of the disaster to help with immediate recovery needs.
Managed by the World Bank, GFDRR is a global partnership funded by 22 donor partners with a mission help developing countries better understand and reduce their vulnerabilities to natural hazards and adapt to climate change.