Natural disasters are having increasingly focused impacts on countries and communities, and these will need to prepare better for the future, according to an OECD report.
This chart, from the report, shows that the overall number of disasters faced by OECD and BRIC countries went up steadily from 1980 until 2000, and then leveled off and declined:
Despite this, the cost of natural disasters, while somewhat noisy, went up dramatically over the same time period:
The OECD report notes that:
"This increasing trend in adverse impacts may not necessarily be associated with more frequent or more intense shocks, as compared to some decades ago, but it points to the fact that human and physical capital is increasingly accumulated in areas affected by disruptive events."
In addition to talking about past disasters, the report goes on to look at various aspects of how countries and communities can better prepare for future calamities. For more detail, check out the report at the OECD's site.