First launched in 2015, an update to the Lloyd’s City Risk Index, a collaborative effort with the Centre for Risk Studies at Cambridge University, acknowledges that we are firmly in the era of man-made risk (a handy survival guide is available). On average, the word’s cities can expect to lose $320 billion a year of their economic productivity, not counting the costs of extreme scenarios. The convergence of man-made, natural and emerging threats is having dangerous consequences and not all of them are of the “smoking crater” variety. Oklahoma City is now a major earthquake epicenter and the frequent site of earthquake swarms due to fracking activity. The challenges exposed in the City Risk Index are manifold and require deep and often uncomfortable trade-offs between the public and private sectors, rich and poor, citizens and their communities.

Source: Forbes June 07, 2018 01:52 UTC