The Ready for the Dry Years publication series has been a part of joint efforts between ESCAP and ASEAN to support Member States to prepare for intensifying drought risk, by assessing patterns of drought hazard exposure and vulnerability, highlighting drought impacts, and assessing future drought risks in the decades ahead. The second edition of the Report was launched at the ASEAN Ministerial Meeting on Disaster Management, which was held virtually on 27th Nov

In South Asia, against a backdrop of existing critical socioeconomic vulnerabilities, the deluge of weather events starting from cyclones, to floods to the related outbreaks of water/vector-borne diseases demonstrate how disaster impacts cascade and converge and threaten the very chains that hold economic and social systems together. South Asian countries have always been highly vulnerable to natural disasters. But for the first time in living memory, these natural disasters have hit amid a global pandemic.

When crises converge: Responding to natural disasters in South Asia during Covid-19

South Asia is at a crossroad of the cascading risks emanating from the rapid spread of the Coronavirus Disease-19 (COVID-19) and climate extremes in monsoon months. Every year, people in the subregion suffer from various climate hazards such as floods, droughts, tropical cyclones and heat waves. This is likely to continue this year in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Impact-based forecasting signals an evolution from “what the weather will be” to “what the weather will do” and thus bridges the gaps between national weather services and the end users such as disaster risk management and development sector communities. It is a user-friendly way of communicating the climate risk information to support risk-informed and strategic decision-making for enhanced preparedness and in-season policy interventions.