Water Resources and Disaster Management

One-third of the world's population faces water shortages, while over a billion people lack access to safe drinking water. Moreover, a child dies every eight seconds from a water-borne disease. Of the diseases found in developing countries, 80% are said to stem from unsanitary water. Food shortages caused by floods and inappropriate water allocation add to the multitude of water-related problems.

The prevalence and damage of disasters has increased in the past 30 years or so, as storm and flood damage, earthquakes, volcanic activities and other disasters occur across the globe almost daily. People in developing countries are particularly vulnerable due to urbanization, which accelerates the concentration of people in cities and delays the provision of social infrastructure. Natural disasters do more than claim life; they directly impact people's livelihood and aggravate the poverty cycle. Whereas the previous mainstreams of disaster assistance were centered more on structural measures such as construction of dams and levees, there is also a need for compound measures that emphasize non-structural assistance such as installation of disaster warning systems, creation of hazard maps, and evacuation drills to improve the emergency response of people and society to disasters.