World Atlas of Natural Disaster Risk ranks exposure to 11 natural hazards

As decision makers gather to agree the post-2015 framework for disaster risk reduction, a new analysis of 11 natural disasters calculates the risk they pose to lives and livelihoods, country by country.

The World Atlas of Natural Disaster Risk, published online today, is authored by an international group of scientists who systematically analysed vulnerability to natural hazards worldwide. The Atlas comprises over 300 maps for the risks of 11 types of natural hazards – earthquakes, volcanos, landslides, floods, storm surges, sand-dust storms, tropical cyclones, heat wave, cold wave, drought and wildfire – as well as maps for multi-hazard risk. Those hazards are then assessed at regional and national levels to create a Total Risk Index (RI) and Multi-hazard Risk Index (MhRI). The research also calculates and ranks expected annual mortality and/or affected population risks, and expected annual economic loss and/or affected property risk. The Atlas is intended to provide a reference for researchers and students in the field of natural disaster risk management and risk governance, as well as businesses seeking to understand natural disaster risk at global and national scales.

The World Atlas of Natural Disaster Risk was coordinated and sponsored by the Integrated Risk Governance Project, which is currently affiliating to Future Earth. It was co-edited by Professor Peijun Shi at Beijing Normal University of China, Co-Chair of the Scientific Steering Committee of the Integrated Risk Governance Project, and Roger Kasperson at Clark University, USA, who is also a member of the project’s Scientific Steering Committee. It is jointly published by Springer Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg and Beijing Normal University Press, and will be formally launched on March 15^th 2015 during a side event at the Third UN World Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction, taking place from the 14^th – 18^th March 2015 in Sendai, Japan.

The Atlas will be available to download for free between the 13^th and 19^th March 2015. It can also be ordered online.