The Importance Of Disaster Risk Prevention And Management

Natural disaster risk under climate change is an inevitable threat to sustainable development, as major flood disasters have been frequent in both developing and advanced countries. Causing widespread devastation with massive economic damage and loss of human lives, flood disasters hamper economic growth and accelerate poverty particularly in most developing countries. Globally, this trend will likely continue due to increase in flood magnitude and lack of preparedness for extreme events (World Bank 2013). Since the early 21st century, risk reduction of natural disasters has been globally recognized as a common goal and included in the eight Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to adapt to climate …show more content…
Disaster risk reduction strategies and policies should also be developed to systematically incorporate a framework for the use of near real-time satellite data, which offer significant advantages for quick response to emergency situations soon after a disaster. In January 2015, Japan 's space policy was established as the new “Basic Plan for Space Policy” emphasizing the development and utilization of space, because Japan has been faced with increasing demands for safety and security including recovery from the Great East Japan Earthquake (CAO 2015). Remote sensing technology should play a central role in this effort for more effective and accurate disaster risk reduction and restoration. NASA created online flood mapping systems, which not only provide fundamental observational information, but also produce such maps with a rapid mapping technique (NASA 2007, NASA 2015). These online data are downloadable for monitoring nation-wide flood disasters all over the world with high spatial and temporal resolution. Therefore, disaster managers and other end users will be able to monitor floods and evaluate larger-scale flood risk by accessing these flood maps and related