G20 spotlights risks of policy delays, disasters (2)

The G20 meeting did, however, make some headway in the area of disaster risk management, a timely topic in the immediate wake of Superstorm Sandy, the most devastating storm to have hit the U.S. eastern coast in at least a century.

At a conference Sunday, led by World Bank President Jim Yong Kim and the Secretary General of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), Jose Angel Gurria, officials unveiled a "manual of best practices" to "increase financial resilience" to natural and manmade disasters.

The document, prepared by the OECD and supported by the World Bank and the United Nations, "is designed to help finance ministers and other authorities develop financial strategies for disaster risk management," said Gurria.

Stressing the importance of the disaster policy framework, Yong Kim said "once-in-a-lifetime extreme weather events are now expected to occur annually."

The weekend meeting marks Mexico's last as president of the G20, with Russia taking over the rotating presidency at the end of the year.

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