The Netherlands tops World Risk Index for Europe

BRUSSELS - Of all the European countries, The Netherlands is most exposed to natural hazards and climate change, the World Risk Report for 2011 reveals. According to the authors, the findings show that disaster risk is always composed of two components – exposure to natural hazards and climate change, and social vulnerability. While the Netherlands and Hungary were found to have relatively high exposure to natural hazards and climate change, they received favourable ranking in the risk index due to their social, economic and ecological situations. On the world index of 173 countries, the Netherlands ranks 69th, the highest for Europe. The UN report assessed social vulnerability, comparing the high earthquake casualty rate of Haiti with the much lower rate of Japan.