TEHRAN – Mostafa Mohaqeq, senior coordinator for Asia and Pacific Centre for Development of Disaster Information Management (APDIM) said that some 75 percent of natural disasters happening in the world are associated with weather and climate.

Disasters are becoming more complex, often tending to affect multiple countries, many of which are transboundary in nature, so, their risks and scale will be heightened and reshaped by climate change, he noted.

Iran is also moving towards risk accumulation and intensive risks, he further explained.

Accumulation refers to the risk that arises when a large number of individual risks are correlated (geographically or otherwise) such that a single event will affect many or all of these risks simultaneously.

Intensive risks are risks associated with the exposure of large concentrations of people and economic activities to intense hazard events such as high intensity earthquakes, severe floods and cyclones, etc., which can lead to potentially catastrophic disaster impacts involving high mortality and asset loss.

Asia and the Pacific facing widespread climate induced disasters such as storms, floods, droughts, sand and dust storms, is the most disaster prone region in the world, which demonstrates highest risk accumulation, he stated, adding, so there must be a link between the scientific community of the country and the policy-making sector.

Of 40 natural disasters known in the world, 30 of them occurred in our country, the most important and frequent of which is earthquake.

To overcome such risks from causing catastrophic losses to the country, three factors of science, policy-making and taking action must be employed concurrently, he highlighted.

In May 2015, Asian and Pacific Centre for the development of disaster information management (APDIM) was established in Iran as a regional institution of the Commission by the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP).

In January 2018, ESCAP and Iran signed an agreement to establish the APDIM in Tehran, in order to strengthen regional cooperation in Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) and promote effective policies for inclusive, sustainable and resilient development in the region.

APDIM’s objective is to reduce human losses and material damages and the negative impact of natural hazards through enhancement of disaster information management in the Asian and Pacific region.

FB/MQ/MG