How Chile could avoid financial disaster after nature strikes

The World Bank and Chilean disaster resilience institute Itrend have started a pilot program to make the country’s infrastructure more resilient.

Flawed coordination for natural disaster adaptation could trigger US$2bn in repair costs, and in the worst case up to US$30bn in one year, or 18% of Chile’s GDP.

“The biggest obstacle for cooperation isn’t a lack of regulation or budget, but the absence of a coordination agency that facilitates dialog between different sectors,” Itrend’s executive director, Catalina Undurraga, told BNamericas.

Itrend and the World Bank held a first workshop in January, when government and private sector representatives discussed the necessity to keep critical infrastructure operational just after disaster strikes….

 

Coronavirus: Who will be hit hardest by the outbreak?

People most at risk include the elderly, those who already have serious health conditions, and those who are displaced from their homes by crisis and living in overcrowded conditions without access to clean water or medical care.

“We know Coronavirus doesn’t respect borders and that it hits the vulnerable hardest, those with weak health systems,” says International Rescue Committee president and CEO David Miliband. “So people living in conflict-affected countries are at considerably greater risk.”

This new virus causes flu-like illness and can spread from person to person. It was first discovered in December 2019 in a seafood market in Wuhan, China. COVID-19 is in the same virus family as SARS and MERS…