UN to hold disaster conference in Japan

The United Nations (UN) is expected to hold a conference on disaster risk reduction in the Japan, following a rise in concerns over global climate change.

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon will attend the five-day conference, scheduled to open in the northern Japanese city of Sendai, on March 14.

“There is a very real possibility that disaster risk, fueled by climate change, will reach a tipping point beyond which the effort and resources necessary to reduce it will exceed the capacity of future generations,” Ban said earlier in March.

He added that, “disaster risk reduction is a front-line defense against climate change.”

Those attending the conference will focus on a new framework aimed at reducing mortality and economic losses by agreeing on measures to bring down the existing levels of risk and to reduce future risks as well.

The conference is expected to be attended by at least 20 world leaders and tens of ministerial-level delegations.

The UN Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNISDR) earlier released a report saying economic losses from disasters worldwide are now reaching a total average of $250 to $300 billion annually.

Although concerns over the financial damages from natural disasters have been on the rise, the UN’s head of disaster risk, Margareta Wahlstrom, recently said that progress has been made in mitigating the human costs of large-scale natural catastrophes.

This comes as Japan marks the fourth anniversary of a deadly 2011 nine-magnitude earthquake and tsunami. Latest official reports say over 15,850 people were killed and more than 6,150 others were injured in the disaster. Over 2,580 people also went missing.

According to official reports, 127,290 buildings were completely destroyed, while 272,788 were partially damaged in the dual disaster in Japan.

The World Bank has estimated that the damage from the natural disasters in Japan stands at $235 billion, making it the costliest in world history.