Last year, Asia Pacific suffered 6,000 fatalities and economic losses of almost US$60 billion due to natural disasters. UNESCAP executive secretary Shamshad Akhtar outlines what leaders can do to minimize these losses. World leaders and decision-makers from more than 100 countries will gather later this month in Sendai, Japan, to finalize a new global framework for disaster risk reduction which will replace the 2005 Hyogo Framework for Action (HFA). The stakes could not be higher, especially for the countries of Asia and the Pacific - by far the most disaster-prone region in the world.2014 was a year without a single large-scale Asia-Pacific earthquake or tsunami, yet 119 disasters still caused more than 6,000 fatalities and economic losses of almost US$60 billion, as storms, floods and landslides wreaked havoc.

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