Natural Disasters Affected More Than 40 Million People in MENA Region in Past 30 Years, Costing USD 20 Billion: World Bank

Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates

Governments in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region are ramping up efforts to enhance emergency response and disaster prevention services, as the rise in natural disasters in the region outpaces the global average and more sophisticated solutions become available on the market.

In the past three decades, natural disasters have affected more than 40 million people in the region and have cost their economies about USD 20 billion, according to a World Bank report. While the absolute number of disasters around the world has almost doubled since the 1980s, the average number of natural disasters in MENA has almost tripled, the report found.

Globally, the emergency response market will climb from USD 50.4 billion in 2012 to USD 131.6 billion by 2019, as interoperable communications systems that can provide real-time situational awareness to first-time responders are developed to help counter the increasing rise in incidents, according to research by Frost & Sullivan.

Next year’s International Exhibition for National Security & Resilience (ISNR Abu Dhabi) event in Abu Dhabi will feature the Emergency Response and Disaster Prevention (EMDI) exhibition, the first dedicated event in the Gulf for emergency response and disaster prevention across land, sea and air.

“In future, emergency response services will need to communicate more effectively with citizens and other service providers, deliver real-time situational awareness of incidents and provide better predictive risk analysis, to help prevent incidents and mitigate their damage,” said Nicky Dawson, Group Exhibition Director of ISNR Abu Dhabi. “EMDI is a must-attend event for anybody working in this vital field, as it will allow them to keep abreast of the latest regional and international trends, and help to develop knowledge and understanding in the industry.”

Bringing together governments, NGOs and the world’s leading specialist innovators and suppliers, EMDI 2016 will provide a platform for exchanging best practice, inspiring innovation and sourcing effective solutions to ensure business continuity and smooth recovery from disaster on a local, regional and global basis.

Running alongside ISNR Abu Dhabi 2016, EMDI will feature dedicated workshops and seminars, and will showcase the latest solutions in disaster monitoring and disaster relief, control station and signalling technology, and emergency engineering rescue.

ISNR Abu Dhabi will take place 15 – 17 March, 2016 at Abu Dhabi National Exhibitions Centre (ADNEC).