Building regional resilience

In this picture taken on August 24, 2017, a tourist walks past damaged trees at the Wynn casino resort after Typhoon Hato hit Macau.When Typhoon Hato swept into Macau it exposed a very different side to a city best-known for ostentatious casinos and wealthy high rollers. Images of residents desperately trying to cope with shoulder-high flood waters, torn up roads and smashed buildings gave a window into the lives of the ordinary citizens of Macau, a world away from chandeliered gambling halls. / AFP PHOTO / Anthony WALLACE / TO GO WITH Macau-China-economy-gambling-social-poverty, FOCUS by Elaine YU

THE past few weeks have been a grim reminder that natural disasters know no borders; they can strike countries at opposite ends of the globe simultaneously. Whether in Asia or North America, images of people being overwhelmed and their livelihoods destroyed by extreme weather conditions are disturbing.

Typhoon Hato, tropical storm Harvey, hurricane Irma and intense flooding all raise questions about what more can be done to both mitigate the risks of extreme weather conditions and improve relief operations.