Planning for a Resilient Future in Asia and the Pacific

The Asia Pacific region needs to accelerate progress on increasing the number of national and local disaster risk reduction strategies if they are to reach the first target of the Sendai Framework by 2020. This was a key conclusion of a two-day workshop in Bangkok, Thailand, convened by the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNISDR).

The gathering brought over 115 participants from 20 governments, intergovernmental organizations, national and regional UN entities, stakeholder groups and international organizations to review progress to date on Target E of the Sendai Framework. Target E, which calls for a significant increase in the number of national and local disaster risk reduction strategies by 2020, is the first milestone of the Sendai Framework, adopted in 2015…

Social media meets insurance: is this the key to improving resilience?

In recent years, the insurance industry has found itself under increased pressure to improve the resilience and response capabilities of communities – whether that means helping them better mitigate risk, react when a danger arises, or recover when something goes wrong.

As with a plethora of challenges facing insurance, the industry is increasingly turning to technology to help with the task – and social media seems to be a particularly promising avenue.

Tom Croshaw, a senior analyst with Aon’s Reinsurance Solutions, says social media has already been an effective medium for the insurance industry to communicate with clients around preparedness, response and recovery.

“One of the most common uses is promoting resilience to natural hazards via social networking platforms,” says Croshaw. “An example is US insurers providing property…