Much greater funding is needed to mitigate the devastating toll of natural disasters in an age when climate change threatens to increase both their frequency and severity, according to a new U.N. report. “While there is a growing recognition of the benefits of investing for disaster risk reduction, financial resources available for disaster risk reduction are still insufficient at all levels”, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon writes in the report to the General Assembly, noting that natural hazards killed more than 240, 000 people and caused over $77 billion in economic damage in the 12-month period ending last June.
