Special issue  

Central Asian countries, which include Kazakhstan, the Kyrgyz Republic, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan, are known to be highly exposed and vulnerable to a broad range of natural hazards, especially floods, earthquakes, and landslides, which frequently result in economic and human losses. According to the country risk profiles developed by the Global Facility for Disaster Reduction and Recovery (GFDRR), the annual average population affected in these countries is almost 1 million by floods and 2 million by earthquakes. Landslides can also cause significant loss of life and trigger disruptions to transport networks. Steadily growing population and urbanization trends, as well as climate change, have contributed to an increase in the frequency and severity of related losses caused by natural disasters in the region and are expected to exacerbate natural risks in the future. Regrettably, the availability of risk information for disaster risk management (DRM) and disaster risk financing and insurance (DRFI) activities is presently rather heterogeneous and scattered across the region. The goal of this special issue is to collect the most recent hazard and risk studies and developments to promote regional and trans-boundary planning and coordination of present and future DRM and DRFI strategies, to improve financial resilience and risk-informed investment planning towards building disaster and climate resilience in Central Asia.