The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has urged Asian countries to developdisaster risk financing packages to better cope with naturalcatastrophes.
In the Asian Economic Integration Monitor reportreleased on April 22, ADB revealed that the annual financial costsfor Asia from natural disasters amount to 53 billion USD, which couldwipe out gains from economic growth in many economies.
Over thepast four decades, direct physical losses from disasters in the regionsignificantly outpaced growth in gross domestic product, it says.
Despite this fact, only 7.6 percent of economic losses from naturalcatastrophes in Asia were insured in 2013, the bank added.
Therefore, ADB says regional cooperation, along with better and moreeffective national policies including financial risk management, iscritical.
It also suggests the regional countries learn from the experience of Caribbean countries in the field.-VNA