The United Nations released its 2026 International Day for Disaster Risk Reduction report on Saturday, stating that disasters cause $228 billion in annual housing losses worldwide. Damage to housing accounts for 43 per cent of the direct cost of cyclones, floods, tsunamis and earthquakes.

UN Secretary-General António Guterres said millions of homes are damaged or destroyed annually, displacing families and deepening poverty. "As climate and disaster risks multiply, building safer dwellings is the shared responsibility of governments, developers, engineers and communities," he said.

Maria Moita, Director of the Department of Humanitarian Response and Recovery at the UN International Organization for Migration (IOM), said "for many people, the end of a disaster is only the beginning of a much longer struggle to return home, restore livelihoods and rebuild their lives." "Rebuilding homes alone is not enough, communities also need functioning services and opportunities to rebuild their lives," she said.

Jeanette Elsworth, an IOM spokesperson, cited data from the Lloyd’s Register Foundation World Risk Poll 2026 regarding disaster preparedness. Among those people who had received an advance warning during a disaster, only 27 per cent of those who had neither a household disaster plan nor confidence in their ability to protect themselves were able to act on that warning, Elsworth said. "By contrast, 83 per cent of those who had both a plan and confidence in their ability to respond were able to take action."

The IOM helped 1.4 million people in 2025 across 39 countries with disaster risk reduction programmes and supported nearly 1,200 communities. The agency also helped extend early warning coverage to more than 1.2 million people.

In August, flooding in Nepal caused by a glacier collapse affected more than 84,000 people and damaged approximately 7,500 homes. Assessments identified 3,650 displaced people across 48 displacement sites, with 28 sites still operational.

An earthquake in Colombia in August affected nearly 500,000 people and damaged more than 200,000 homes. The event left an estimated 20,000 families displaced in Cali. The IOM assisted 50,600 people in Venezuela following earthquakes in June.