Extreme natural events such as tropical storms, heavy rainfall, or earthquakes cause severe impacts worldwide every year. However, whether a natural hazard turns into a disaster depends only in part on the physical force of the event itself. Societal framework conditions are equally decisive: the resilience of infrastructure networks, public health capacity, and underlying levels of poverty and inequality heavily determine how vulnerable a society is to natural hazards.
The newly published WorldRiskReport, co-issued since 2018 in cooperation with the Institute for International Law of Peace and Armed Conflict (IFHV) at Ruhr University Bochum, places its main thematic focus on storms.
At the core of the publication is the WorldRiskIndex, which calculates and compares disaster risk across countries globally by assessing exposure alongside social vulnerability. The report’s findings are further illustrated through WorldRiskMaps, providing a visual overview of global risk distribution. The analyses highlight that while extreme natural events cannot be prevented, disaster risk can be significantly mitigated through targeted preparedness measures – such as implementing early warning systems, reinforcing infrastructure resilience, and investing in climate change adaptation.
The WorldRiskReport provides an evidence-based foundation for stakeholders across research, practice, policy, and administration to analyze the linkages between climate change, natural hazards, and societal resilience, helping to inform future policies and disaster risk reduction strategies globally.
The full report can be read here.
(Image source: AI-generated)