This forum of innovators and experts met at the first ever Understanding Risk Conference: Innovations in Disaster Risk Assessment that took place at the World Bank's headquarters in Washington, DC. The Understanding Risk Conference bridges the gap between state-of-the-art technology providers and the work of decision-makers within local communities, government agencies and international institutions.

“The question that still confronts us is why do countries repeatedly fail to mitigate risk ex ante and the world is repeatedly faced with growing loss of GDP, infrastructure and human lives,” stated Margareta Wahlstrom, United Nations Assistant Secretary-General for Disaster Risk Reduction. “I think this Conference, which brings together over 400 risk experts and companies undertaking risk assessments, with policy makers and senior officials from the Governments accountable for disaster reduction is the beginning of a dialogue, which will help to translate the knowledge of risk into concrete investments at national levels,” said Wahlstrom.

Experts presented cutting-edge collaborative open source technologies such as Ushahidi, the GeoNode, the Central America Probabilistic Risk Assessment (CAPRA), other Web 2.0, social media, and innovative methods of community-based risk assessment, among others. Global experts also explained how to “crowdsource” data, assess risk, and make decisions to mitigate and help prepare for the impact of adverse events.

“The concept of this meeting stems from the idea that bringing people from different backgrounds, but concerned with the same problem, is the best way to spur innovation,” said Francis Ghesquiere, Disaster Risk Management Lead for the World Bank's Latin America and Caribbean Region.

Prior to the forum, over 1500 people from over 130 countries were engaged for six months in a number of on-line discussions related to the conference through the event's community website: Understanding Risk Community Site. These discussions guided the content of the conference sessions and have helped strengthen the community of practitioners dedicated to disaster risk reduction - that includes government agencies, community-based organizations, research institutions, nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), private sector firms and multilateral organizations.

“This groundbreaking meeting is helping bring together the science, development, and finance communities confronting catastrophe risks,” said Rowan Douglas, Chairman of the Willis Research Network. “We can only deliver sustainability by avoiding or managing the impacts of extreme events. Combining the diversity of our communities is the only way to develop the tools, models and principles which will improve perception, change behavior and save lives and property,” added Douglas.

Supported by the World Bank managed Global Facility for Disaster Reduction and Recovery (GFDRR), the Bank's Knowledge Strategy Group and the Bank's InfoDev, in partnership with the United Nations International Strategy for Disaster Reduction, the Understanding Risk Conference is part of a week-long agenda of events that include the GEM 2010 Outreach Meeting, the First Global Random Hacks of Kindness Hackathon - a partnership between Google, Yahoo!, Microsoft, NASA and The World Bank, and a Crisis Camp.

It is estimated that economic losses as a percentage of GDP are 20 times greater in developing countries than in more advanced economies, according to the Global Facility for Disaster Reduction and Recovery (GFDRR) 2009 annual report.