VOA标准英语2015--报告显示老年人面临更大的灾难风险

Older People Face Greater Disaster Risk 报告显示老年人面临更大的灾难风险

A new report ranks countries according to the disaster risk faced by older people. It says those in Somalia, Central African Republic and Afghanistan face the highest risk due to conflict and a lack of social services. The findings are being released prior to the U.N. World Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction (3/14-18) in Sendai, Japan.

HelpAge International has released its first Disaster Risk and Age Index, which evaluates 190 countries. It’s estimated 66 percent of those 60 years old and above live in less developed countries. HelpAge says that figure is expected to rise to nearly 80 percent by 2050. That’s over two billion people.

HelpAge CEO Toby Porter said, “There’s quite rightly enormous interest globally at the moment in disaster risk reduction. I think an understanding that the world needs to invest in helping¹ communities prepare for disasters and be more resilient when they do happen. But something that hasn’t been so well internalized or understood is how vulnerable older people are to disasters and more vulnerable than other members of the community.”

He gave 2005’s Hurricane Katrina as an example. The storm slammed into the southern U.S. city of New Orleans.

“The population of New Orleans the day the levies² broke – the breakdown³ was that only 16 percent of the population that day was age 60 or older. And yet the statistics we have is that 75 percent of the men and women, who lost their lives that day, were age 60 or over. I mean it’s a most extraordinary statistic⁴.”

And 56 percent of those who died in Japan’s 2011 Tsunami⁵ were age 65 and older, even though they made up only 23 percent of the population.

“Obviously, there are certain physical infirmities that come with older age. So, for example, a decreased ability to exit fast from an area where there may be a tsunami wave coming or to flee insecurity. There may be an instance whereby communities use disaster drills with whistles or sirens. You might have an older person in the community who may be hard of hearing. You might get someone who’s housebound and not able to see the dangers coming,” he said.

Protection of older populations, Porter said, will only grow in importance.

“The population is getting older, which is a wonderful thing. The reason that populations are getting older is because we’re all living in an era where every year people can expect to live longer and healthier lives. Often people think that population aging is just a developed world phenomenon -- or concentrated in countries like the U.S. and Canada and Western Europe. But actually populations are aging around the world and the fastest growing regions are Asia and Latin America.”

He said the world must adapt its health care, economies and social welfare to an aging population.

“If you speak to an older person regardless of which country, regardless of which culture or religion or background they come from, they’ll often talk about four major concerns. What kind of health am I in? Do I feel that I have enough money? Am I safe and living free from violence, discrimination or other forms of elder abuse? And fourth and a very important one – am I listened to? Do I have a say? Is my voice heard?”

The top 10 countries where older people are most at risk are Somalia, Central African Republic, Afghanistan, Sudan, Yemen, South Sudan, Myanmar, the DRC, Syria and Iraq. There are 17 sub-Saharan African countries among the top 30 where older people are most at risk.

The HelpAge chief executive officer said he’s sees encouraging signs for older people as the Sustainable Development Goals take shape. The U.N. meets late this year to finalize⁶ the replacements⁷ for the Millennium⁸ Development Goals.

1 helping   

n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的

参考例句：

• The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
• By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。

2 levies   

（部队）征兵( levy的名词复数 )； 募捐； 被征募的军队

参考例句：

• At that time, taxes and levies were as many as the hairs on an ox. 那时，苛捐杂税多如牛毛。
• Variable levies can insulate farmers and consumers from world markets. 差价进口税可以把农民和消费者与世界市场隔离开来。

3 breakdown   

n.垮，衰竭；损坏，故障，倒塌

参考例句：

• She suffered a nervous breakdown.她患神经衰弱。
• The plane had a breakdown in the air,but it was fortunately removed by the ace pilot.飞机在空中发生了故障，但幸运的是被王牌驾驶员排除了。

4 statistic   

n.统计量；adj.统计的，统计学的

参考例句：

• Official statistics show real wages declining by 24%.官方统计数字表明实际工资下降了24%。
• There are no reliable statistics for the number of deaths in the battle.关于阵亡人数没有可靠的统计数字。

5 tsunami   

n.海啸

参考例句：

• Powerful quake sparks tsunami warning in Japan.大地震触发了日本的海啸预警。
• Coastlines all around the Indian Ocean inundated by a huge tsunami.大海啸把印度洋沿岸地区都淹没了。

6 finalize   

v.落实，定下来

参考例句：

• Let us finalize tonight.让我们今天晚上干完
• 。At the same time,industrial designers work with engineers to finalize components and assembly.同时，工业设计师和工程师一道来完成部件和组装部分的工作。

7 replacements   

n.代替( replacement的名词复数 )；替换的人[物]；替代品；归还

参考例句：

• They infiltrated behind the lines so as to annoy the emery replacements. 他们渗透敌后以便骚扰敌军的调度。 来自辞典例句
• For oil replacements, cheap suddenly looks less of a problem. 对于石油的替代品来说，价格变得无足轻重了。 来自互联网

8 millennium   

n.一千年，千禧年；太平盛世

参考例句：

• The whole world was counting down to the new millennium.全世界都在倒计时迎接新千年的到来。
• We waited as the clock ticked away the last few seconds of the old millennium.我们静候着时钟滴答走过千年的最后几秒钟。