Earth Report travels to the world's disaster hotspots. We assess what is being learned from the natural disasters that affect the lives of some 200 million people every year. And we find that even in the poorest nations, the loss of life and damage can often be reduced by modest investment in early warnings and public education. Ours is still a restless planet - colliding continents and extreme weather are a fact of life. The question is: will the unprecedented outpouring of aid for the Asian Tsunami lead to a long term development strategy, that will minimise the impacts when the next natural disaster stikes?

According to the UN, between 1980 and 2000, 75 percent of the world's population lived in areas that were affected at least once by earthquakes, cyclones, floods or drought. But as each new disaster takes its toll, what are the lessons that can be learnt? In this episode, Earth Report travels to Kobe in Japan, to Bam in Iran and to the Swiss Alps, to see how communities are planning for the next natural disaster.

When the Asian Tsunami struck in December 2004, over 200,000 people were killed and 1.5 million were left homeless. In this episode of Earth Report we ask what lessons have been learned from this tragedy. With so much reconstruction money flooding into the region, are these countries rebuilding better than before or has this unique opportunity been missed? We travel to Thailand, Sri Lanka and Indonesia to investigate what has happened after the wave.

Over the last two decades, an average of 200 million people have been affected by disasters every year. With the impacts of climate change now being felt around the world, the next generation will have to deal with increasing numbers of disasters of increasing severity. Will they know what to do to when the next disaster strikes? This Earth Report visits disaster hotspots in south-east Asia, central Asia and the Caribbean, to see how education, both in the classroom and in the community, can make the difference between life and death