Last year, nearly 140,000 people died in Myanmar’s devastating Cyclone Nargis, while over 5 million homes collapsed in the Sichuan earthquake in China.  The Secretary-General underscored the importance of building risk reduction capacities as well as raising public awareness.

“People, poverty and disaster risk are increasingly concentrated in cities,” he said, noting that urban centres that were well-planned 25 years ago are now the scenes of annual flooding. More than half of the world’s 10 most populous cities are in Asia, and most of them are threatened by earthquakes and devastating tsunami waves, Ban said in his remarks to International Conference on Building a Local Government Alliance for Disaster Risk Reduction, also in Incheon.

Rising sea temperatures triggered by climate change, he said, are raising the spectre of ever-more destructive hurricane and cyclones. “And yet,” he said, “we also know the possibility. With concerted action, we can reduce by half the loss of lives from disasters by 2015,” calling for an end to business as usual.

The Secretary-General appealed for a ‘collective effort,’ urging local authorities to speed up their efforts to make their cities safer by conducting risk assessments and encouraging private sector investment.  “By joining forces, we can protect livelihoods, make our schools and hospitals and other buildings safe, and promote a greener, cleaner future.”