New York Times: Insuring for Disaster
Jeffrey D. Sachs, special adviser to the U.N. secretary general on the Millennium Development Goals and director of the Earth Institute at Columbia University

“Natural disasters like the devastating earthquake in Nepal constitute a highly uncertain but quantifiable risk. No one can say for sure when a major earthquake will strike. But the fault lines are known. We need a new global system of disaster insurance, akin to how homeowners guard against calamity. … A global system of disaster insurance would of course not be perfect and would take time to implement, but could save many lives and livelihoods in the years ahead, and help vulnerable low-income countries like Haiti and Nepal chart a path to sustainable development” (5/4).