1.5. Urbanization and Disaster Exposure

One more thing is that urban population; urban population in the world is dominating. In 1950, it was only 29.7% of total population was urban population, only 29.7. In 2030, it is considered that it will grow as 61.1% that means more and more people are living in urban areas and they are exposed to various kind of disasters.

The global urban population has seen significant growth over the decades. In 1950, about 29.7% of people lived in urban areas. By 2030, it's expected that this will rise to 61.1%. This shift means that a growing number of individuals are living in cities, where they may encounter a higher risk of natural disasters like floods, earthquakes, and storms due to the concentration of people and structures in these areas.

Imagine a small town where everyone knows each other and the buildings are spread out, making it easier to escape during emergencies. Now think of a large city with skyscrapers and millions of people packed together. If a disaster were to strike, like a flood or an earthquake, getting everyone to safety would be much more challenging due to the high density of people and limited routes to evacuate.

You can see this graph also that is showing that how earthquake, flood, windstorm is increasing from 1950 to 2000. That is for sure that flood is increasing and windstorm is also increasing has increasing red, earthquake is relatively similar but great natural disaster in the world are really increasing.

Between 1950 and 2000, a noticeable increase in the frequency of natural disasters such as earthquakes, floods, and windstorms has been observed. This data suggests that as the number of urban areas grow, so does the incidence of these catastrophic events, which can be attributed to several factors including climate change and urbanization.

Consider a garden. If you plant more flowers close together, they compete for sunlight and water. Similarly, as cities grow larger and more densely populated, natural disasters have a higher chance of impacting a larger number of people and properties, just like the flowers can overwhelm each other’s growth.

Also, not only the disasters are increasing, but economic loss and social impacts due to disasters are increasing, here is one you can look at economic losses or insured losses with trend from 1950’s to 2000 that is for sure that it is increasing.

The trends show that not only are natural disasters becoming more frequent, but they are also causing greater economic losses and social impacts. As areas become more urbanized, the potential for financial harm when disasters do strike increases, meaning that cities face significant costs in recovery and rebuilding from these events.

Think of a person who has invested a lot of money into a small business. If a flood hits their town, the damage to their inventory could result in significant financial loss. With urban areas housing more businesses and people, losses will be amplified by the sheer volume and interconnections of assets in these regions.

But the most important finding is that structural measures; engineering measures are important, but not enough that is for sure, you can build dikes, bridges, dams but you can make a lot of things like that structural measures, but they are very necessary for infrastructure development to protect and mitigate disasters.

While engineering solutions like dikes, bridges, and dams are critical for disaster risk reduction, they alone cannot guarantee safety. These structures can help manage risks, but they cannot eliminate the threat of natural disasters. It's essential to recognize that nature’s power can surpass human-made structures, hence relying on construction alone is not sufficient for community resilience.

Imagine a sturdy umbrella on a rainy day. It will keep you dry up to a point, but if the rain turns into a torrential downpour, you're still going to get wet. Similarly, while structures can protect us from some disasters, extreme events can still cause damage irrespective of our preparations.

What do we need to do then? we need to make people, increase people's risk awareness, we need to promote preparedness, small thing that if there is a big disaster, is the tsunami you have to evacuate, no other option, people who are living near the coastal side, they have to evacuate when there is a disaster, but people always do not like that.

To effectively manage disaster risks, communities must enhance public awareness and readiness for potential disasters. It is critical for people living in vulnerable areas, especially coastal regions prone to tsunamis, to understand the importance of evacuation plans and acting promptly when alerts are issued.

Consider this like preparing for a fire drill in school. Students are taught to leave their classrooms calmly and quickly when they hear a fire alarm. Just like in real emergencies, knowing the escape routes and what to do saves lives. Similarly, knowing how to respond to disasters can help people react swiftly and safely.

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