A joint report from the World Bank and the United Nations offers governments a number of measures to prevent death, destruction, financial loss and higher health care costs as a result of natural disasters such as earthquakes, hurricanes and flooding. The 250-page report, titled "Natural hazards, unnatural disasters: the economics of effective prevention", was released in Washington and directly targets the world's finance ministers by presenting evidence for countries to reduce their vulnerability to natural hazards so that they can develop their economies in a sustainable and cost-effective way.