Disaster Risk Management

Every year, 25 million people are displaced globally by sudden onset disasters, which cause over $18 billion of direct damages in low- and middle-income countries. Addressing this challenge, the Global Facility for Disaster Reduction and Recovery (GFDRR) is working with countries and communities to not just build back better, but build better before.

In Indonesia, which has one of the largest home improvement programs in the world, GFDRR helped raise compliance with resilient housing standards from 11% in 2018 to over 75% in 2023. Meanwhile, in partnership with the Japan Program, GFDRR is working to enhance the resilience of health systems to various shocks in countries including Colombia, Morocco, and Peru.

Seismic-resilient schools built with GFDRR support in Türkiye withstood the worst of the shocks brought about by the February 2023 earthquakes. They have become temporary shelters providing earthquake survivors a safe space and operations centers for the coordination and distribution of aid.

With the support of GFDRR, the World Bank and the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, countries across the Pacific are taking steps to ensure that disability inclusion is front and center in their disaster risk management efforts.

Practical actions to advance social inclusion in Disaster Risk Management (DRM) projects. The actions identified are means to proactively expand their resilience impacts to a wider group of beneficiaries who tend to be excluded. (e.g. the elderly, persons with disabilities, women, children, ethnic/religious minorities, etc.).