The UN Office for Disaster Risk Reduction has launched a new initiative to collect comprehensive data on disaster losses and to quantify the impact of disasters. It is a part of the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction, a global plan for reducing disaster risk and losses in lives, livelihoods and health and in the economic, physical, social, cultural and environmental assets of persons, businesses, communities and countries. The Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015-2030 was adopted by UN Member States on 18 March 2015 at the Third UN World Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction in Sendai City, Japan. 

Climate change and extreme weather events contribute to pushing 26 million people into poverty every year. In addition, according to the UN High Commissioner on Refugees, an estimated one person every second has been displaced by a disaster as a result of climate change since 2009. In order to prevent disasters and to manage risk by climate change, it is essential to measure disaster losses as well as to understand where these losses are occurring. 

The UN Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Disaster Risk Reduction, Mami Mizutori, explains: 

“Even silent, small-recurring events such as floods and droughts can take a huge toll on communities which lack essential health services and other coping capacities.” 

The Sendai Framework Monitor is designed to capture data on achievement of five targets agreed by UN Member States: reducing mortality from disasters, reducing the numbers of disaster affected people, reducing economic losses, reducing damage to critical infrastructure and recording the number of countries with national and local strategies for disaster risk reduction. 

Mami Mizutori, said: 

“It is impossible to prevent disasters and to manage risk if a country is not measuring its disaster losses, particularly at the local level, for both small-scale and large-scale events. Such losses are a great setback for efforts to eradicate poverty.”