WB pushes disaster risk financing in Asean region

The World Bank is spearheading efforts to encourage member states of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) to develop a risk financing road map as a way of managing the worsening impact of natural disasters on economies.

Flooding and typhoons in Asia, particularly in Asean exporting and manufacturing hubs such as Thailand, have affected the production, transport and supply of commodities and consumer products.

This, in turn, is adversely affecting economies all over Asia.

Asean, the World Bank, Global Facility for Disaster Reduction and Recovery, and United Nations International Strategy for Disaster Reduction are convening the “Asean Disaster Risk Financing and Insurance Forum” to jointly step up inter-sectoral discussion on disaster risk financing and insurance, the World Bank said in a statement.

The forum is also being supported by Indonesia as the lead country for Disaster Risk Financing and Insurance under the Asean Agreement on Disaster Management and Emergency Response (AADMER) Work Program, the World Bank said.

Asean Secretary-General Dr. Surin Pitsuwan said, “We are witnessing devastating floods that have already taken hundreds of lives and causing massive economic losses in the Philippines, Lao PDR, Cambodia, Vietnam, Myanmar and Thailand. It is a matter of urgency that risk-financing solutions, as a disaster risk reduction measure, now be pursued more aggressively.