Disasters to cost cities Sh31tr by 2030 - report

Cities will need to be more resilient or cease being hubs of economic developments, says a new report released last week.

The report, titled Investing in Urban Resilience, says natural disasters such as the recent Hurricane Matthew sweeping across the Americas threaten the lives of more than four billion urban dwellers.

The report warns that failing to invest in making cities more resilient to natural disasters, shocks, and stresses will result in significant human and economic damages, with the urban poor bearing the brunt of the calamities.

“By 2030, without significant investment into making cities more resilient, natural disasters may cost cities worldwide $314 billion (Sh31.4 trillion) each year, up from around $250 billion (Sh25 trillion) today, and climate change may push up to 77 million more urban residents into poverty,” says the report jointly prepared by the World Bank and the Global Facility for Disaster Reduction and Recovery.

The report was released in advance of the UN Conference on Housing and Sustainable Urban Development – or Habitat III – taking place in Quito, Ecuador this week.

Urban areas around the globe are home to 55 per cent of the world population and are the main engines of growth, contributing close to 80 per cent of the GDP. In Kenya, a tenth of the population, or four million people, lives in Nairobi which contributes to more than half of the country’s GDP.

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Any natural upheaval in any one global city is bound to cause ripples not only in the local economy but internationally.

Life in the city is like a double-edged sword. On one hand, the high density of people, jobs, and assets make cities successful. On the other hand, this also makes them extremely vulnerable to the wide range of natural and man-made shocks and stresses.

“Rapid growth, without efforts to boost resilience, is exposing cities around the world to huge risks. Population growth and human migration are on the rise, and climate change is poised to have dramatic effects, which means we’re approaching a tipping point for the safety of cities all over the world. We need to invest today in resilience measures that will help secure a safe and prosperous future for our cities and the people who live in them,” said Ede Ijjasz-Vasquez, senior director for the World Bank’s Social, Urban, Rural and Resilience Global Practice.