The outbreak of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) has caused devastating socio-economic crises that undermine the prospects of meeting Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in the Asia-Pacific region. At the same time, non-COVID-19 disasters, such as flood, cyclone, hurricane, wildfire, drought, and earthquake, had caused economic losses of at least $171.3 billion dollars and affected 98.4 million people worldwide, according to the latest report named 2020: The Non-COVID Year in Disasters, produced by the Centre for Research on the Epidemiology of Disasters. The report highlights that in 2020 there were 127 major storms, 26% more than the annual average of 102 and these events resulted in 1,742 deaths. There were 201 major recorded floods, 23% more than the annual average of 163 and they resulted in 6,171 deaths, 18% more than the annual average of 5,233 deaths.
The disasters have laid bare inequalities and vulnerabilities in societies that leave them exposed in the face of economic and non-economic shocks and have long impeded progress on the SDGs. Some countries suffer more and have larger impact of disasters than others, and some are more resilient and are better able to sustain their progress in the face of disasters. Exposure and level of vulnerability to disasters depends on structural factors like population and geography, structure of the economy, and the individual capabilities. Many countries in the Asia-Pacific region are at risk of nearing a tipping point beyond which the burden of natural disasters and climate change will surpass their capacity to mount an effective response.
The substantial impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic have added to a growing list of disaster risks. As the pandemic spread in the 2020, the virus outbreak added new challenges on top of the hazards of the cyclone and monsoon season. According to the recently published Asia-Pacific SDG Partnership Report Responding to the COVID-19 Pandemic: Leaving No Country Behind, the COVID-19 pandemic destroyed millions of jobs and livelihoods. Shrinking economies, job losses and falling household income have pushed up poverty, reversing much of the region’s progress of reducing poverty and ending hunger. Estimates suggest women are more likely to be pushed into poverty. The latest data show that some 233 million people lived below the threshold of $1.90 a day in the Asia-Pacific region in 2018. ESCAP estimates that the pandemic has pushed 89 million people in Asia and the Pacific back into extreme poverty (according to the $1.90 per day threshold). Using the $3.20 threshold, the figure rises to 158 million. South Asia accounts for a bulk of this increase, as the subregion is among the worst hit.