ABSTRACT
Towards the end of the International Decade for Natural Disaster Reduction (IDNDR) (i.e. the Decade), when we look at the global disaster scene and analyse the situation, we cannot help reflecting on some of the premises upon which the Decade was based. Trends in hazard impacts and their consequences are now well recognised. South Asia experiences the largest number of disasters and consequent losses. South America comes a close second. Regarding floods, Bangladesh, India and Nepal have much in common, although the degree of suffering varies. It is important that these three nations cooperate to prevent Albert Schweitzer’s prediction ‘Man has long lost his ability to foresee and forestall. He will end up by destroying the earth’ (Sachs, 1991) from becoming true.
