This briefing note is designed to support Open Working Group (OWG) members in their consideration of targets related to disaster risk management (DRM). It presents a technical assessment of potential targets and explores global trends in disaster losses in the past, along with comments on possibilities for the future. This information should reassure OWG members that DRM targets are measurable. It concludes by reiterating the importance of linking Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) DRM targets with the process of developing targets and indicators for the successor to the Hyogo Framework for Action (HFA), the international agreement on reducing disaster risk. This briefing is part of a wider project assessing the measurement, data and calibration aspects of SDG targets on DRM. A more comprehensive report will be released in July 2014 that will consider potential estimates for the targeted percentage reduction in losses.