But are we getting better at managing disasters, or are we actually reducing disaster risk?
This suggests that these types of technological improvements may have a significant effect on reducing disaster losses – an effect Pielke fails to account for.
According to UN figures, in 2014 just 0.4% of the global aid budget of $135.2bn£92bnbn) – roughly $540m – was spent on reducing disaster risk.
But if tourists only knew the risks they were running, they might never show up in the first place.*"Reducing Disaster Risk: A Challenge for Development", UNDP.
With help from the World Bank, Dr. Anderson has undertaken projects in St. Lucia and elsewhere in the Caribbean to reduce disaster risk in hilly shantytowns.
Twelve months have passed since the adoption by UN member states of the Sendai framework for disaster risk reduction, a 15-year plan for reducing disaster losses from manmade and natural hazards.
Next month, America's National Research Council will publish a report, "Reducing Disaster Losses Through Better Information", calling for the creation of an international disaster information network, to ensure that emergency managers have as much information as possible at their fingertips.
Reducing disaster risk, and providing the most vulnerable with safe water and sanitation is as much about building their resilience to climate change as it is about justice, equality and development.
Let's get the public- and private-sectors to the table to talk strategically about how they can continue to work together to reduce disaster losses in this country.
Wahlström said: "The Philippines is the most storm-exposed country in the world and its expertise in disaster risk management can be usefully adopted by other countries trying to implement the Sendai framework for disaster risk reduction, adopted in March this year as a global blueprint for reducing disaster losses".
