Trans-disciplinary research to improve health systems’ disaster readiness and response
Several high-impact disasters in the last decade have shown diverse environmental and social settings to be vulnerable to natural hazards. According to the United Nations (UN), in 2011 302 disasters resulting from natural hazards killed 29 782 people and injured, displaced or otherwise affected another 206 million. Economic damages reached 366 billion United States dollars (US$), a record figure resulting from the concentration of disasters in middle- and high-income countries and the associated loss of costly infrastructure.