ASIDE from people, businesses bear the brunt of natural disasters. Last year, natural disasters affected some 95 million people, and caused $116 billion in direct economic losses, of which $10.42 billion belonged to the Philippines, according to data from the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNISDR).

In 2012, floods, typhoons and earthquakes caused more than $274 billion of economic losses in Asia. 

It is for this reason that retail giant SM Supermalls hosted the 5th Green Retail Agenda at the SMX Mall of Asia recently, a forum that gathered stakeholders to share their views on how people, the government and private businesses could work together to improve disaster resiliency and preparedness efforts.

With this year’s theme as “The Business Case for Disaster Risk Reduction”, SM Supermalls provided a venue to present ways to make businesses more risk-sensitive so that all stakeholders, including the government, will be encouraged to invest more heavily in disaster risk reduction efforts.

Annie Garcia, President of SM Supermalls said with nearly half of the major natural disasters of the past 20 years occurring in Asia, including the Philippines, there is greater need to make business disaster resilient.

“The impacts of disasters have become a growing concern not only with the government but especially for us in the private sector. We have all suffered the devastating effects of natural disasters. According to the World Risk Index, the Philippines is the third most disaster risk country worldwide with over 5 billion US dollars of loss due to disasters in a decade,” she said. 

She further stated, “(f)or us in the private sector, this means a variety of unpredictable events and change in which risks can affect us unexpectedly. Within this, reducing risks is taking on new significance and urgency for all of us

in the private sector.” 

This is the reason why she said SM has been actively focusing more on climate change mitigation, adaptation and sustainability. With SM Prime as a member of the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction – Private Sector Partnerships, SM Supermalls seeks to actively create shared value within the private sector and other key stakeholders to ensure preparedness in times of disasters. 

This year’s theme emphasized the need to prepare for the unforeseen to protect our businesses and the community as a whole. We enjoin you, our business partners, to take part in our joint effort for disaster risk reduction. Let us all help one another, through a proactive approach, to build foundations of resiliency and preparedness towards disasters,” Garcia said.