MicroFinance Institutions (MFIs) need to increase their investment in disaster risk management prevention, states Yuri Chakalall, natural disaster and risk management senior specialist at the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB).
The micro, small and medium enterprise sector needs to acquire greater disaster resilience, and MFIs have a stake in assisting them achieve this, Chakalall posited; and explained that the financial institutions would benefit by helping their clients prepare to reduce their vulnerability.
“We have found that for every dollar invested to mitigate against risk reduction yields between $4 and $6 in future avoidance of losses,” stated Chakalall. “Therefore, rather than wait for a disaster to happen, a lot of work should be done in risk resilience preparation to understand and manage risks.”
The risk management specialist said for the period 1995-2015, natural disasters cost the Americas a total of US$870 billion in losses; and, he noted that these disasters came as a result of flooding, storm-related damage and seismic events.
He was presenting on the theme ‘Disaster Risk Management and Business Continuity – Issues to Consider and How to Evaluate Risk’ at the…
