Asia and the Pacific is the most disaster-prone region in the world. A person living in Asia and the Pacific is 5 times more likely to be affected by natural disasters than a person living outside the region. In 2021 alone, there were more than 150 natural hazard events in Asia and the Pacific, directly impacting 62.6 million people, causing over 4,000 fatalities and resulting in economic losses and damages of US$41.3 billion.
Since the establishment of the ESCAP Multi-Donor Trust Fund for Tsunami, Disaster and Climate Preparedness following the devastating Indian Ocean Tsunami in 2004, and through the financial contribution of US$10 million from Thailand, followed by US$2.5 million from Sweden and contributions from 10 more donor governments, 19 countries have directly benefitted from support in building regional and national end-to-end warning systems for coastal hazards.
Operating in a regionally coordinated and programmatic way, the Trust Fund has helped reduce the total cost of establishing and maintaining early warning systems substantially, as compared to the sum of costs if every country maintained its own system. Furthermore, by pooling resources, the Trust Fund facilitates South-South and triangular cooperation, this approach has been especially useful for countries that are at high risk of disasters but possess limited domestic capacity in hazard monitoring and early warning.
Guided by its Strategic Note 2021-2024, the Trust Fund will continue to focus its support on the two people-centred pillars: i) strengthening multi-hazard early warning systems for all people, with a focus on the vulnerable and marginalized, and ii) strengthening social and economic resilience in Asia-Pacific. These pillars will be further supported by two modalities of implementation, namely, enhancing disaster and climate risk management through iii) regional cooperation, and iv) mainstreaming science, technology, and innovation
