Only a fraction of total international aid expenditure is funneled into risk reduction, with up to two-thirds of disaster spending occurring after a disaster happens.

The IFRC’s world disasters report 2016 focuses on resilience and includes articles by leading experts on resilience. The report calls for increased investment in building community resilience both before a disaster occurs and during the recovery period. Despite the high priority resilience is given in policy and normative documents, the report points out that the funding available for strengthening resilience remains extremely low. The 2016 World Disaster Report also includes some of the recent work by ODI's Risk and Resilience team on the triple dividend of resilience – by investing in disaster risk management countries can better avoid losses due to disaster, stimulate economic growth and gain development benefits.

The report calls for a more nuanced approach to the development of measurements and indicators – reflecting the sometimes hidden ideologies and power dynamics involved – and for a greater focus on anticipation, collaboration and partnership as a way of bringing about long-lasting change to affected communities.