The ISDR-Asia Partnership Forum meeting in Ulaanbaatar to prepare for the July Asia Ministerial Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction (photo: UNISDR)

By Chris Weeks

ULAANBAATAR, 2 May, 2018 - Efforts to eradicate poverty in the Asia-Pacific region are being impeded by the high volume of disaster events across the region where the lives of millions are disrupted every year by floods, storms, drought and earthquakes.

The Deputy Prime Minister of Mongolia, Mr. U. Enkhtuvshin, has urged the region’s 42 countries to implement the global plan for reducing disaster losses, the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction and to put the principle of building-back-better at the heart of post-disaster recovery.

He was speaking at ISDR-Asia Partnership Forum convened in the Mongolian capital, in advance of the Asian Ministerial Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction, a major biennial gathering to discuss progress on reducing disaster losses in the region which Mongolia will also host in July.

Mr. Enkhtuvshin said: “Despite the fact that Asia-Pacific region is achieving great progresses in social and economic development and eradicating the level of poverty which has brought positive changes in the region, our region remains vulnerable to disasters with millions of people suffering from losses of lives and properties due to disasters.

“We are obliged to create resilient cities and urban settlements, and to reinforce buildings and infrastructures against disasters. Building back better and fostering public-private partnership to increase disaster risk investments should be at the core of our policy and action.”

In a video address, the head of UNISDR, Ms. Mami Mizutori, recalled that in the month of May “communities in China and Myanmar will commemorate two of the deadliest disasters of recent times, the Wenchuan Earthquake and Cyclone Nargis.  More than 200,000 people lost their lives in these events, a stark reminder of the devastating impact of disasters.”