The risk of natural disasters will remain for an undermined period of time, with natural disaster losses set to outpace economic growth with an expected global disaster losses to hit US$500 billion unless there are comprehensive risk assessments and integration of risk-reduction in place to understand, mitigate and response to potential future natural disasters including flood, earthquake hazards, landslide, severe weather including powerful storms, massive tornado, hurricanes, quick-striking monster typhoons and slow-onset drought. Therefore, an effective natural disaster prevention, recovery, innovation and response are of constant relevance. It is also imperative to learn from the experiences and best practices for greater collaboration and information sharing to enhance the synergy and to extend the resource base for more effective implementation of natural disasters preparedness initiatives. The conference will provide a timely platform to map out strategies for natural disaster preparedness and capacities assessment across Asia Pacific, Middle East, Europe and the region.