United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres in his message for the International Day for Disaster Risk Reduction, Sunday said making infrastructure more climate-resilient can have a benefit-cost ratio of about six to one.

"Throughout my life and career, I have visited many communities affected by extreme weather events and other natural hazards," said Guterres in a press release a copy of which was emailed to IRNA by the United Nations Information Center (UNIC) in Tehran.

Gutters wrote, "From the South Pacific to Mozambique to the Caribbean and beyond, I have seen the devastating and life-changing impact of the climate emergency on vulnerable communities. Disasters inflict horrendous suffering and can wipe out decades of development gains in an instant."

"In the coming decade, the world will invest trillions of dollars in new housing, schools, hospitals, and other infrastructure.  Climate resilience and disaster risk reduction must be central to this investment."

There is a strong economic case for such steps: making infrastructure more climate-resilient can have a benefit-cost ratio of about six to one. For every dollar invested, six dollars can be saved, which means that investing in climate resilience creates jobs and saves money and that it is the right thing to do: it can ease and prevent human misery, he wrote.

"I am encouraged by the global groundswell of public support for urgent climate action, and by the many commitments made at the recent Climate Action Summit."

Urging everyone to focus on increased ambitions, he called on the world to step up their investments by 2020 and ensure that disaster risk reduction is at the heart of the Decade of Action.