Many OECD countries have been affected by major harmful events in recent years. The considerable human and economic costs of such events and the repercussions they might have for the global economy have become recurring causes for concern. Given its intergovernmental and multidisciplinary nature, and its experience in risk and disaster management in a variety of fields,1 the OECD is well positioned to analyse the impact of major disasters on societies and ...

Economic recovery from past disasters (Patrick Lenain); Budgetary impact (Patrick Lenain); Impact on insurance and financial markets (Sebastian Schich); An insurance perspective on terrorism and other disaster management (Cécile Vignial-Denain) ...

On 17 August, 1999, an earthquake of magnitude Mw = 7.6 hit the Kocaeli and Sakarya districts of northwestern Turkey. It was soon followed by another big earthquake of magnitude Mw = 7.2 in the close by area centred around Duzce. The disasters affected an extensive area covering the cities of Kocaeli, Sakarya, Düzce, Bolu, Yalova, Eskisehir, Bursa, and Istanbul. The combined population of these eight cities constitutes about 23% of the national population. The heaviest damage was recorded in Kocaeli, Sakarya, Bolu, and Yalova, whose combined population was about 6% of the national figure ....