Canada ranks #2 most resilient nation to natural hazards: global report

DisasterAWARE Enterprise published its 2024 Disaster Risk Index Report of the world’s most vulnerable nations, providing a comprehensive evaluation of disaster risk, vulnerability and resilience of the 10 largest nations by Gross National Product (GNP). The new global report warns the world is grappling with an array of complex challenges, ranging from climate change to geopolitical instability, marking the emerging field of risk intelligence as increasingly pertinent, as business leaders risk losing trillions if ill prepared.

The Disaster Risk Index offers crucial insights into how catastrophic events could impact the economies and populations of these different countries, as well as assessing their readiness and ability to recover from events. Understanding each country’s disaster risk can help security operations professionals, supply chain managers, retailers, CFOs, and risk adjusters make more informed decisions regarding investment, risk management, and resource allocation.

Flooding tops the natural disaster category with 6,808 events reported between 2021 and 2022. Nearly 86 per cent of flood events reported in the top ten came from the U.S. Fires are the second most common natural disaster with nearly 1,800 events reported.

The most resilient nation to natural hazards is Germany followed by Canada with India ranking the worst among the top 10 wealthiest nations by GNP.

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“The Disaster Risk Index provides a snapshot into the groundbreaking insights of the DisasterAWARE Enterprise platform and how it can be used by operations and security professionals to more easily plan and respond to natural or man-made disasters with data traditionally reserved for state agencies and NGOs,” said Bob Miller, CEO of DisasterAWARE Enterprise. “Private entities can now foresee the potential impacts of catastrophic events such as the recent Maui fires or typhoon Idalia in Florida on their nations, economies, and people can be better prepared for them. By comprehensively evaluating factors like natural disasters, resilience, and vulnerability in real-time, we are empowering businesses, and organizations to make more informed decisions that can save lives, keep businesses operating, and protect communities.”

DisasterAWARE Enterprise serves a variety of industries that include energy, tech, retail, and insurance among others. Unlike other solutions, DisasterAWARE Enterprise has an exclusive license to the Pacific Disaster Center data which collaborates with governments, state agencies, and international organizations. Some of its clients include leading technology firms such as Databricks Inc; Meta; Mercedes; and Shell. The technology in real time can give accurate predictions of disaster impact and provides detailed reports that empower businesses to make more informed decisions that can save lives and protect communities.

Key Report Intelligence (from top 10 countries analyzed): 

Further findings

• Surprisingly, the U.S. has an average vulnerability score despite being the largest economy globally. This highlights that economic strength alone does not confer resilience against disasters. Specific vulnerabilities for the U.S. include high economic inequality and recent major disaster impacts. China ranks surprisingly low at 9th in resilience, due to weaknesses in governance, infrastructure, and environmental capacity. This is despite China having the second largest GNP globally.
• Germany ranks highest in overall resilience, while India ranks lowest among the top 10 GNP nations. Germany’s high resilience stems from strengths across areas like infrastructure, governance, economic capacity, and social equality.
• Japan (5th most resilient country) has the greatest GNP exposure at $1.6T and China (9th most resilient country) ranks second with $364B in GNP exposure.
• China and India have the largest populations with the most potential exposure to natural disasters.
• The U.S., China, India and Brazil have relatively poor environmental capacity scores. Strengthening environmental policies could enhance their resilience.
• France, Japan and Italy have recently experienced major disaster impacts, highlighting the need for improved mitigation and preparedness.

Find the full report here.