Global Action Too Slow to Curb Rising Risks Says Former UN Disaster Chief
The world's preparations to deal with disasters are not yet keeping pace with the growing threats to people and societies, said the former U.N. disaster prevention chief.
Margareta Wahlström, who served for over seven years as head of the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNISDR), said big changes could be made to limit the physical impacts of natural and manmade disasters like floods, earthquakes and industrial accidents.
"If we included risk as a factor into all the plans and visions we have for the future, we will gradually catch up - then we will be able to reduce risk," she told the Thomson Reuters Foundation in an interview soon after leaving office.