UN says 10 pct of Haiti reconstruction money should be set aside for disaster preparation

UN: Set aside funds for Haiti disaster preparation

GENEVA — The United Nations says governments and aid agencies rebuilding Haiti should invest at least 10 percent of the money in preparing for future disasters.

Margareta Wahlstrom, the U.N. chief on disaster risk reduction, says earthquakes do not happen very often but are the deadliest of all disasters.

The U.N. International Strategy for Disaster Reduction says 60 percent of all people who died in disasters over the last decade were killed in earthquakes. It says storms claimed 22 percent of all disaster deaths, while cold and heat waves made up 11 percent.

Wahlstrom said Thursday that, if Haiti had been prepared for an earthquake, hospital staff would have been better trained and there would have been less lack of medical equipment and drugs.