The number of humanitarian disasters reported worldwide increased by 60 per cent to more than 6,800 in the past decade when compared with the previous 10 years, a new report released by the Irish Red Cross has revealed.
But only 4 per cent of the $10 billion (€6.8 billion) spent annually on humanitarian assistance goes towards preventing and reducing the risks of disaster.
This is despite research showing that for every dollar invested in reducing the risks related to disasters, between $2 and $10 can be saved in disaster response and recovery costs.
At a time when the Government's Irish Aid budget is set to increase to €914 million next year, the annual report on world disasters, compiled on behalf of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent societies, notes that climate change is a humanitarian issue for agencies such as the Red Cross, rather than simply an environmental and economic issue.
For example, the organisation's network in 186 countries responded to 64 floods in 2004, but this figure had increased to 140 last year, it reveals.
The overall report focuses on the issue of discrimination in disasters.
It highlights how the needs of vulnerable groups such as women, the elderly, the uneducated and people with disabilities are frequently ignored when disasters occur.
For example, the report notes that many marginalised people are not included in their country's census and are, to all intents and purposes, "invisible".
While the number of people affected by disasters dropped last year compared to 2005 - in part due to the effect of the 2004 Asian tsunami on figures for that year - the overall trend is upwards, the report notes.
Between 1997 and 2006, the report notes that the number of deaths from disasters doubled to 1.2 million, with the numbers of people affected by disasters also increasing by 40 million to 270 million.
Commenting on the report, the acting general secretary of the Irish Red Cross John Roycroft said it was important for aid agencies and governments to identify and address discriminatory attitudes and procedures.
"Our volunteers are very well aware of the fact that discrimination in an emergency situation is life threatening," he said.
Up to 1,000 new volunteers joined the Irish Red Cross over the last 18 months.
Members of the search-and- rescue teams of the Irish Red Cross gave 7,600 hours of their time last year.