Australia and the Pacific Region

The most costly recent disasters in Australia and the Pacific have been natural disasters, which can cause over $1 billion each year in property and infrastructure damages and agricultural losses. Common natural [Page 25]disasters in Australia include droughts, bushfires, heatwaves, floods, severe storms and tropical cyclones, earthquakes, and landslides. The islands of the Pacific Ocean are vulnerable to earthquakes, tsunamis, severe storms and tropical cyclones, and landslides. Although these island nations have small populations, they suffer high proportional costs of disasters, which impact their national economic development. These disasters have both natural and human-made causes. Global warming and potential climate change threaten the region with natural disasters of greater intensity and frequency. Australia and New Zealand have recently begun developing comprehensive national emergency management systems, ...