Natural disasters in Colombia: a regional perspective

Abstract

Climate change is causing more and more extreme events with negative consequences for the population. This document presents a descriptive analysis of natural disasters in Colombia, emphasizing regional differences both in the frequency of occurrence of disasters and in their direct costs. With data from the Unidad Nacional de Gestión del Riesgo de Desastres, an increasing trend is evident both in the frequency and in the effects of natural disasters in the country, with a greater influence in departments of the Andean region, where Antioquia is characterized by to be the territorial entity with the highest number of deaths, injuries, and disappearances since 1998. There is evidence of a low participation of spending on disaster prevention over public spending on investment, which may contribute to greater affectations due to natural disasters in the future in the country.