VOA标准英语2015--Report: Displacement Risk Soars

Report: Displacement¹ Risk Soars

It’s estimated about 27 million people are displaced every year by natural disasters. A new report says the problem will get worse with more frequent extreme weather events – and development in hazard-prone areas.

Internal Displacement Monitoring Center Director Alfredo Zamudio said disaster-related displacement has quadrupled since the 1970s. In other words, the risk of losing a home to hurricanes, floods, et cetera, is four times greater today.

“That is the dimension of the problem – how disaster is displacing people more and more – is a huge problem and it has to be addressed,” he said.

The center has released a new report called Disaster-related Displacement Risk: measuring the risk and addressing its drivers. The report was released in the run-up to the 3rd U.N. World Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction. The summit is being held in Sendai, Japan from March 14 through the 18. 

Zamudio outlined the reasons for increased displacement.

“The main risk drivers for this development has been population growth in hazard-prone areas – the rapid and unplanned urbanization – the unequal distribution of wealth. Also, it has to be said, in certain areas, weak governance and state failure,” he said. 

The report said Asian countries have the highest risk of displacement because people are exposed to “multiple natural hazards.” These include – what are called – mega-events that affect many people.

“Mega-events are more than three million people per event. And those are increasing in number and they are affecting most people in Asia,” he said.

Zamudio said these include the giant typhoons that have hit the Philippines in recent years.

“People in a country like the Philippines and other areas of Asia -- who are living where urbanization is growing very fast – where they are living in very poor conditions in hazard-prone areas, like to say a river bed or a beach, closer to where the big waves may come --those people will be affected² very, very hard more and more and more frequently unless something is done very quickly with their situation.”

Small island states – such as Antigua and Barbuda, Haiti and Cuba – are also among high-risk countries.

The report also said 30 percent of the pastoralists in northern Kenya, southern Ethiopia and south-central Somalia are at risk of being “permanently displaced by 2040.” That can happen, it said, even if “climate change does not make droughts more frequent or severe.”

Zamudio said, “The risk for displacement has three components³: hazard, how people are affected by it and the vulnerability of people. So climate change affects one of them – affects the hazard -- the frequency of the hazard and the strength of the hazard.”

He added that conflict and violence further increase the vulnerability of communities.

“You have the situations, like in the Sahel, where people may be affected by drought. They may be affected by floods. And they may also be affected by violence and conflict. These are the toxic⁴ cocktail⁵ for permanent displacement of [a] huge amount of communities,” he said.

The Internal Displacement Monitoring Center recommended: adoption⁶ and enforcement of land-use plans and stronger building codes; and diversifying⁷ and strengthening the livelihoods⁸ of the poor. It said the global community must address disaster risk and sustainable development simultaneously⁹, including efforts to end conflicts. 

1 displacement   

n.移置，取代，位移，排水量

参考例句：

• They said that time is the feeling of spatial displacement.他们说时间是空间位移的感觉。
• The displacement of all my energy into caring for the baby.我所有精力都放在了照顾宝宝上。

2 affected   

adj.不自然的，假装的

参考例句：

• She showed an affected interest in our subject.她假装对我们的课题感到兴趣。
• His manners are affected.他的态度不自然。

3 components   

（机器、设备等的）构成要素，零件，成分； 成分( component的名词复数 )； [物理化学]组分； [数学]分量； （混合物的）组成部分

参考例句：

• the components of a machine 机器部件
• Our chemistry teacher often reduces a compound to its components in lab. 在实验室中化学老师常把化合物分解为各种成分。

4 toxic   

adj.有毒的，因中毒引起的

参考例句：

• The factory had accidentally released a quantity of toxic waste into the sea.这家工厂意外泄漏大量有毒废物到海中。
• There is a risk that toxic chemicals might be blasted into the atmosphere.爆炸后有毒化学物质可能会进入大气层。

5 cocktail   

n.鸡尾酒；餐前开胃小吃；混合物

参考例句：

• We invited some foreign friends for a cocktail party.我们邀请了一些外国朋友参加鸡尾酒会。
• At a cocktail party in Hollywood,I was introduced to Charlie Chaplin.在好莱坞的一次鸡尾酒会上，人家把我介绍给查理·卓别林。

6 adoption   

n.采用，采纳，通过；收养

参考例句：

• An adoption agency had sent the boys to two different families.一个收养机构把他们送给两个不同的家庭。
• The adoption of this policy would relieve them of a tremendous burden.采取这一政策会给他们解除一个巨大的负担。

7 diversifying   

v.使多样化，多样化( diversify的现在分词 )；进入新的商业领域

参考例句：

• Some publishers are now diversifying into software. 有些出版社目前正兼营软件。 来自辞典例句
• Silverlit is diversifying into new markets, such as Russia and Eastern Europe. Silverlit正在使他们的市场变得多样化，开发新的市场如俄罗斯和东欧国家。 来自互联网

8 livelihoods   

生计，谋生之道( livelihood的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• First came the earliest individualistic pioneers who depended on hunting and fishing for their livelihoods. 走在最前面的是早期的个人主义先驱者，他们靠狩猎捕鱼为生。 来自英汉非文学 - 政府文件
• With little influence over policies, their traditional livelihoods are threatened. 因为马赛族人对政策的影响力太小，他们的传统生计受到了威胁。

9 simultaneously   

adv.同时发生地，同时进行地

参考例句：

• The radar beam can track a number of targets almost simultaneously.雷达波几乎可以同时追着多个目标。
• The Windows allow a computer user to execute multiple programs simultaneously.Windows允许计算机用户同时运行多个程序。