How to rank the world’s nations by risk

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  • 2016•05•03     Australia     ABC Australia

    Many of Australia’s island neighbours are vulnerable to disaster, with foreign aid playing a ‘key part’ in whether national infrastructure can stand up to the challenges posed by nature. RN Breakfast reports.

    Measuring risk on the international scale is a fiendishly complex business, but according to Matthias Garschagen, author of a report by theUnited Nations University in Germany, it essentially boils down to two components.

    On the one hand, he says, is a country’s exposure to natural hazards. ‘How many people are exposed to floods, to typhoons, to earthquakes?’

    On the other is the society’s inherent vulnerability. ‘In other words: is the society prepared for the disaster when it strikes?

    Read the full article online here.