A photo taken 21 September 1985 shows the ruins of Hotel Regis, flattened in the 19 September earthquake, that struck Mexico City, killing up to 30 000 people. The disaster spawned moves by the Mexican government to establish disaster mitigation programs that now serve as examples to the rest of the region. AFP PHOTO DERRICK CEYRAC (Photo credit: DERRICK CEYRAC/AFP/Getty Images)
Globally, three of the ten most costly natural disaster events in the last 35 years occurred in total or in part in the Latin America/Caribbean (LAC) region; losses from Hurricane Matthew in the Caribbean are still being assessed.
Today, 80 percent of the LAC population lives in urban areas, second only to North America (82 percent) and well above the global average of 54 percent. The region’s 198 large cities (>200,000 residents) contribute over 60 percent of gross domestic product (GDP), and its 10 largest cities produce 50…
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Democracy & Good Governance 