[infographic] Infrastructure Resilience: Disasters & Development Assistance in sub-Saharan Africa

19 December 2016

Today, the world is facing unprecedented crises and growing challenges. A total of 574 disasters were reported in 2015 alone, 116, or 20 percent, of which occurred in Africa. These disasters affected 108 million people globally, 31 million (29 percent) in Africa alone. In 2015, 32,550 people were killed as a result of disasters, compared to 14,389 in 2014. In addition, the total amount of disaster estimated damage in 2015 was almost US$ 70.3 million.

The infographic was created in time for the 2nd annual Aid & Development Africa Summit. To download the infographic, click here.

2015 was the hottest on record, with 32 major droughts across the world, which is double the ten-year average. Drought, worsened by the effects of El Niño, has affected 40 million people, more than the entire population of Uganda. Furthermore, an estimated 23 million people are in need of emergency assistance. The threat of disasters, worsened by swelling populations, increased urbanisation and climate change, has elevated strengthening resilience to becoming a global priority.

However, total development assistance for disasters only constitutes a small fraction of the US$ 3.3 trillion total international aid finance, and the US$ 13.6 billion spent on disaster risk reduction accounts for just 0.4% of the total amount spent on international aid. Essentially, for every US$ 100 spent on development aid, just 40 cents was invested in defending that aid from the impact of disasters.

The Aid & International Development Forum is pleased to invite you to the 2nd annual Aid & Development Africa Summit, taking place on 28 February - 1 March 2017 in Nairobi, Kenya, to discuss innovations, policies and initiatives to support emergency response and community resilience.

Participants will have the opportunity to discuss latest policy updates, innovations and strategic partnerships for disaster preparedness and building resilient infrastructure in East Africa through a number of panel discussions, keynote presentations and interactive roundtable sessions.

Regional Directors like Christopher Hoffman of World Vision East Africa and David Clapp at UNDP will examine disaster response activities to the recent drought emergency in East Africa, identifying new best practice for building a culture of resilience and proactively reducing risks through data-driven planning. Furthermore Barlin H. Ali, Program Coordinator, Center for International Disaster Information (CIDI) and Lawrence Lutaaya, Senior Disaster Management Officer, International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) will look into flood prevention and control, including flood hazard mapping, risk management, mitigating flood damage.

See the full agenda at: http://africa.aidforum.org/agenda

To register your participation at the Aid & Development Africa Summit 2017, please visit: http://africa.aidforum.org/register