Economic Outlook for Southeast Asia, China and India 2024

Abstract

Policy makers should encourage the adoption of state-of-the-art technologies and innovations in disaster risk reduction and management. At present, technologies such as the Internet of Things, drones, searchand-rescue robots, big data, artificial intelligence and blockchain technology are not yet fully in use in the region. To successfully adopt such technologies, governments can support investment in research and development, improve access to foreign markets and enact policies that strengthen their country's capacity to deploy and provide access to them.Governments should also set overarching, clear and mandatory policies of disaster risk reduction education at the national level while allowing implementation to be adapted to local contexts. Learning materials should be updated regularly and active learning methods should complement classroom teaching. Disaster risk reduction education should be accompanied by monitoring and evaluation, regular training sessions for teachers, and public awareness programmes.The health impacts of disasters are often enormous. Policy measures for ensuring efficient health responses include developing robust plans for health system co-ordination in response to disasters, taking steps to preserve the health of the general population when disasters strike, ensuring the flexibility necessary to redistribute medical equipment and supplies during a disaster and scaling up mental health services.Exposure to disasters presents the private sector with a range of challenges. Governments can enact policy measures aimed at enhancing the capacity of the private sector to manage and recover from disasters. Such measures include evaluating the susceptibility of all sectors to disasters, boosting disaster risk governance, facilitating access to designated disaster mitigation and response budgets, ensuring sustainable financing by mobilising public-private partnerships when investing in disaster resilience and encouraging the growth of private catastrophe risk insurance markets.