Experts warn catastrophe readiness lacking

TORONTO, June 21 (UPI) -- Most of the world is currently ill-equipped to deal with major catastrophes, experts at Toronto's World Conference on Disaster Management say.

While discussing risks to human life such as flu pandemics and cyber warfare, most disaster experts agreed that the level of disaster preparedness worldwide is sorely lacking, The National Post reported Saturday.

"What would happen if one day the Internet stopped?" former Netscape chief strategist Kevin G. Coleman asked.

Coleman told the Canadian newspaper such a technological disaster would cost developed countries such as the United States hundreds of millions of dollars a day in lost revenue.

He challenged global governments to focus on such potential threats, which could effectively devastate their economies.

"The government needs to step up to this," he said. "This is a threat that we are ill-prepared for."

Meanwhile, pandemic expert Richard Preston said other credible threats may come in the form of biological disasters, the Post reported.

"I see stormy biological weather ahead," Preston told the Post.

"We are as vulnerable as trees to infectious disease."