What COVID-19 tells us about the changing nature of disaster risk

The document asserts that disaster risk has become systemic and cannot be managed by isolated agencies, as human activity in the Anthropocene has fundamentally changed the nature of risk. It highlights that pandemic warnings from the Global Preparedness Monitoring Board and the International Working Group on Financing Preparedness were ignored, despite proposed investments of $3.4 billion annually for health systems and $1 billion for R&D. The author calls for the integration of biological hazards into national disaster risk reduction strategies as envisioned by the Sendai Framework, noting that only 81 countries currently have such strategies in place.

• Disaster risk is now systemic and cannot be managed by dividing it into categories assigned to separate health, disaster management, or early warning agencies; such fragmented governance prevents a comprehensive understanding of unfolding disasters.
• Global pandemic preparedness was severely underfunded despite specific warnings and proposed financial frameworks. The Global Preparedness Monitoring Board warned of a respiratory pathogen potentially killing 50 to 80 million people and erasing nearly 5% of the global economy. Previous proposals to mitigate such risks included an annual $3.4 billion investment in national health systems, $1 billion for research and development, and $155 million for a WHO Centre for Health Emergency Preparedness and Response.
• While the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction expanded the definition of risk to include biological hazards five years prior to the document, implementation remains low. Only 81 countries report having national strategies for disaster risk reduction, and many of these fail to include pandemic threats.
• The COVID-19 crisis has coincided with other natural disasters, demonstrating that multiple hazards can strike simultaneously, as seen with a 5.5 Richter earthquake in Croatia and a category 5 cyclone in Vanuatu.

APA

Mizutori, M. (2020). What COVID-19 tells us about the changing nature of disaster risk. World Economic Forum. https://www.weforum.org/stories/global-risks/here-are-the-biggest-risks-we-re-facing-right-now-the-covid-19-crisis-reveals-how-to-stop-them/

Chicago

Mizutori, Mami. What COVID-19 tells us about the changing nature of disaster risk. World Economic Forum, 2020. https://www.weforum.org/stories/global-risks/here-are-the-biggest-risks-we-re-facing-right-now-the-covid-19-crisis-reveals-how-to-stop-them/.

Wikipedia

{{cite press release |last1=Mizutori |first1=Mami |title=What COVID-19 tells us about the changing nature of disaster risk |publisher=World Economic Forum |date=23 April 2020 |url=https://www.weforum.org/stories/global-risks/here-are-the-biggest-risks-we-re-facing-right-now-the-covid-19-crisis-reveals-how-to-stop-them/ |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@misc{mizutori2020what, author = {Mizutori, Mami}, title = {{What COVID-19 tells us about the changing nature of disaster risk}}, publisher = {World Economic Forum}, year = {2020}, month = apr, url = {https://www.weforum.org/stories/global-risks/here-are-the-biggest-risks-we-re-facing-right-now-the-covid-19-crisis-reveals-how-to-stop-them/}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }