SINGAPORE — Asia's vulnerability to natural disasters calls for a strong approach to risk management, the chairman of the Pan-Asia Risk & Insurance Management Association said Monday.

Thailand produces 40% of the hard drive disks in the world today, said Franck Baron, who also is group general manager of risk management and insurance at International SOS Pte. Ltd., a medical and travel security services company in Singapore.

In terms of outsourcing, there are a few highly concentrated, cost-efficient locations in Asia, which “has been the most impacted region in the world” in terms of natural catastrophes, said Mr. Baron, who spoke Monday at the Asian Risk Management Conference in Singapore.

He noted that several registrants from the Philippines were unable to attend the conference because of Saturday's typhoon, Hagupit.

This is the first conference organized by PARIMA, which launched 18 months ago.

Climate change has affected Asia as well and has resulted in 183 million people who are threatened by rising sea levels, Mr. Baron said.

“This does have an impact on risk management and insurance,” and “while we still have a lot to do” to consider all the consequences, “it should be on our plate, it should be on our agenda,” he said.

Furthermore, “we still have a low insurance penetration” in Asia, he said. “Insurance is not the solution, but insurance is part of the answer,” said Mr. Baron. “PARIMA wants to be involved in with the (insurance) industry to see how we can continue to develop penetration of insurance” in Asia, he said.

“We need to adapt to new threats,” such as cyber crime and information security, Mr. Baron said. “We need to adapt in terms of skill sets. We need to be good at managing new risks and emerging exposures.”

Mr. Baron also pointed to the April 2013 collapse of a garment factory in Bangladesh, where nearly 1,200 people died. “The risk community and the insurance industry do have a role to play to ensure we are going to be able to avoid this kind of tragedy,” he said.