The global cost of disasters is growing: The economic burden of disasters is intensifying. While the direct costs of disasters averaged $70–80 billion a year between 1970 and 2000, between 2001 and 2020 these annual costs grew significantly to $180–200 billion. But the real cost is far higher.

In 2024, the Emergency Events Database (EM-DAT) recorded 393 natural hazard-related disasters. These events caused 16,753 fatalities and affected 167.2 million people. Economic losses totaled US$241.95 billion.

The Indian Parliament has passed the Disaster Management (Amendment) Act, 2025, introducing significant changes to the existing Disaster Management Act, 2005.

The 2024 Flood Outlook report offers a comprehensive assessment of flood risk across the country, highlighting critical areas of concern and strategic recommendations for mitigation and preparedness.

The report investigates the broad concept of the economics of drought management, provides a conceptual, two-tier framework for the assessment of proactive and reactive actions, and disseminates case studies for the implementation of the framework in decision-making processes.

In 2023, the Emergency Events Database (EM-DAT) recorded a total of 399 disasters related to natural hazards. These events resulted in 86,473 fatalities and affected 93.1 million people. The economic losses amounted to US$202.7 billion.

There is a rapidly growing literature on the link between climate change and poverty. This study reviews the existing literature on whether the poor are more exposed to climate shocks and whether they are more adversely affected.

A devastating earthquake in Turkey and Syria, severe convective storms (SCS) and large-scale urban floods were the main events driving insured natural catastrophe losses to USD 108 billion in 2023, reaffirming the 5–7% annual growth trend in global insured natural catastrophe losses since 1994.

Countries in Asia and the Pacific face a heightened risk of flooding as disasters increase worldwide due to climate change. Yet these countries often lack the infrastructure necessary to prepare for and respond to floods effectively.