Natural disasters in Asia in 2011 could well prove to be the costliest ever, say experts at the UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific.

“Never before has this world suffered so much economic loss due to natural disaster, most of which has been in Asia and the Pacific,” Sanjay Srivastava, UN regional adviser for disaster risk reduction, told IRIN in Bangkok.

Of the global US$270 billion of economic losses to natural disasters in 2011, 90 percent was in Asia, he said.

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