Governments and communities are currently stuck in a vicious cycle where the financial cost of disasters is rapidly rising while funding for recovery and reconstruction are stretched to their limits. This has been especially true for nations, whose main productive sectors have been gravely affected by the COVID crises. The ongoing pandemic and the lessons learnt from it only prove how important it is to address the resilience gaps now before another big disaster strikes. 

A change in thinking, planning, and investing is necessary that aims to build back better in a manner that reduces risk for younger and future generations. This forward-looking approach to recovery must take into consideration future complex and cascading risks and address underlying vulnerabilities and inequalities. 

There is a strong need for a new “social contract” on investing in disaster risk reduction and resilience as a public good. Such a contract can set out the responsibilities and liabilities of national governments, financing bodies and the private sector, to manage the negative externalities arising from policy and investment decisions that are not risk-informed.