CRED and other institutions release reports and make recommendations for future disaster reduction work.

On March 12, 2015, the World Health Organization Research Centre for disaster Epidemiology (CRED), University College London (UCL), the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and the United Nations International Strategy for disaster reduction (UNISDR) released a report entitled "Human costs of Natural disasters from a Global Perspective" (The Human Cost of Natural Disasters: A Global Perspective). This paper analyzes the trends and characteristics of the impact of global natural disasters on human beings and economy in the past 20 years (1994-2013), and analyzes the reasons for the differences in disaster impacts around the world. based on the results of the analysis, some suggestions for raising awareness of disaster reduction and strengthening disaster reduction actions are put forward.

Records from the EM-DAT database reveal that a total of 6873 natural disasters occurred worldwide between 1994 and 2013, resulting in 1.35 million deaths, with an average annual death toll of nearly 68000. In addition, over the past 20 years, an average of 218 million people have been affected by natural disasters each year. From 1994 to 2013, the frequency of geological disasters (earthquakes, tsunamis, volcanic eruptions and block movements) remained generally stable, while the continuous increase in climate-related disaster events (mainly floods and storms) led to a significant increase in the total amount of disasters. Floods accounted for 43 per cent of all disasters and affected nearly 2.5 billion people; storms were the second most frequent disaster, causing 244000 deaths and economic losses of US $936 billion; earthquakes (including tsunamis) caused more deaths than all other disasters combined, killing 750000 people during the period; and drought affected the largest number of people, accounting for 25 per cent of the global total.

The analysis of the impact trend and characteristics of disasters shows that:

(1) due to the growth of the total population and the decline of the absolute number of people affected by the disaster, the average annual number of people affected by the disaster shows a decreasing trend, while the number of deaths caused by the disaster increases.

(2) income levels have an impact on the number of deaths from disasters. High-income countries experienced 56 percent of disasters but accounted for 32 percent of deaths, while low-income countries experienced 44 per cent of disasters and 68 percent of deaths. It shows that the level of economic development, rather than the disaster itself, is the main determinant of mortality.

(3) the types of population growth and economic development contribute more to the increase in disaster impacts than climate change or periodic changes in the weather. Today, not only are there more people at risk than in the past 50 years, the construction of houses in floodplains, earthquake-prone areas and other high-risk areas increases the likelihood of conventional natural disasters turning into catastrophes.

(4) the countries with the largest absolute number of disasters are the United States and China, mainly because of their high area, topographic changes and population density. Among the seven continents in the world, Asia has the greatest disaster risk, with 3.3 billion people affected by China and India alone.

Based on the above analysis, the report draws the following conclusions:

(I) while the number of people affected continues to decline, the rising mortality rate highlights the continuing vulnerability of communities to natural disasters. Even with the development of advanced weather forecasting and early warning capabilities, the rising death toll calls into question the effectiveness of global disaster reduction efforts. Further assessment of the impact of disaster reduction on human life and livelihoods is also needed in the future.

(II) disaster reduction measures in less developed countries need to be significantly improved, taking into account the disproportionate burden of natural disasters on low-income countries, especially the wide difference in mortality between rich and poor countries.

(lll) improving the flood control capacity of relatively poor communities in flood high-risk areas is an important direction of future efforts. There are many effective, low-cost solutions, including afforestation, delineation of flooded areas, construction of dams, improvement of early warning capacity and restoration of wetlands. EM-DAT data show that in low-income countries, floods are the leading cause of damage to schools, hospitals and clinics, so flood prevention measures can also bring development benefits.

(IV) Climate change is projected to increase the frequency of storms and other extreme weather events, and better management, disaster mitigation measures and storm warnings will save more lives in the future.

(v) given the effectiveness of early warning and the large number of people affected by drought, global efforts should focus on reducing the number of people vulnerable to drought in the coming decade.

(VI) there is an urgent need to further study how and why families and communities are affected by disasters so that responses to disasters can be based on evidence rather than assumptions. Without such micro-level research, there will be little effect on disaster reduction and prevention in the future.