We can mitigate the suffering in the short term but in the long term the processes which cause disaster vulnerability have to be challenged. So let us take a look at the future in a little more detail, starting with the key issue of climate change. There is little doubt now that climate change is for real. Compared to the 1960s, the past decade has seen the number of great natural catastrophes triple. Changes in average temperatures, rainfall and sea levels will cause dramatic shifts in the risks of extreme and disastrous climatic events.
Coastal zones face flooding, as warmer oceans expand and rise.
With tides forecast to creep up 44 centimeters by 2080, hundreds of millions of the planet's inhabitants living in coastal megacities and small island states are threatened. Desertification is forecast to reduce yields of millet in the Sahel by up to two-thirds. I think you get the picture. Those of us in the disaster response business are in a growth market. Those of us who belief that disaster mitigation holds the key, are faced with ever increasing challenges.