ULAN BATOR, July 4 (Xinhua) -- A UN official called on all countries to improve disaster risk management to reduce the number of displaced people during a conference which opened here on Tuesday.

Mami Mizutori, the Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General for Disaster Risk Reduction and head of the UN Office for Disaster Risk Reduction, made the remarks during the Second Asian Ministerial Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction themed "Preventing Disaster Risk: Protecting Sustainable Development."

She said that Asia still accounted for nearly 50 percent of the lives lost in disasters worldwide, despite a decline in recent years.

A total of 18.8 million people were forcibly displaced due to natural disasters linked to global warming, including floods, storms and earthquakes in 135 countries across the globe, she said.

"Therefore, all countries must focus on improving their existing disaster risk management policies in order to reduce the number of displaced people," she said.

The conference were attended by more than 3,000 officials and experts from over 50 countries.

The participants will also discuss issues, including creating disaster resistant infrastructure and promoting public-private partnerships on disaster risk reduction during the four-day conference.