The international community needs to invest more in pre-emptive measures to reduce risks from natural disasters, rather than spending a lot after they happen, according to the head of the U.N. Development Program.
"You could say it's a no-brainer that needs more priority," said Administrator Helen Clark, a former prime minister of New Zealand.
Natural disasters between 2005 and 2014 resulted in an estimated $1.4 trillion in economic damage, of which some $9 billion was spent on Haiti alone after more than 300,000 people died there in an earthquake in 2010, according to the United Nations.