Three key global economic bodies launched a manual here Sunday that compiles the best practices to deal with natural disasters.

The manual, "Disaster Risk Assessment and Risk Financing," was prepared for the Group of 20 (G20) by the Mexican government and the World Bank, with submissions from 15 other nations and the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).

It introduces mechanisms for handling natural disasters by such nations as Mexico, which face a slew of risks.

"Our collaboration with Mexico has been model," World Bank President Jim Yong Kim said. "Mexico is very far ahead of the game."

Mexico, which is holding the rotating G20 presidency, is subject to hurricanes, with coastlines on both the Pacific Ocean and Atlantic Ocean. It also suffers from earthquakes, which often strike the central and southwest parts, including the capital Mexico City.

The manual was in response to the 2012 G20 Disaster Risk Management initiative, introduced by Mexico earlier this year.

The manual recommends countries focus on financial stability, including ensuring risks are allocated to private markets, clear rules are in place for distribution of disaster funds and that states consider ahead of time the financial implications of investing in disaster risk reduction projects.

"Mexico has done pretty well with the FONDEN (the Natural Disaster Fund), and with its flexible assignment of resources," Mexico's Finance Minister Jose Antonio Meade said.

FONDEN is administered by the Interior Ministry and is designed to swiftly deliver financial and material aid to municipalities that have been assigned disaster areas.

Since 2006, Mexico has also been selling catastrophe bonds each year. If a disaster occurs during a bond's lifetime, the government uses the money borrowed to pay for repairs. If no disaster occurs, the government pays the money back with interest. The latest such bond was issued on Oct. 15, and raised 315 million US dollars.

OECD head Jose Angel Gurria said participating nations must seek to go beyond traditional disaster planning, citing last year's Fukushima disaster as an example.

The Fukushima accident showed clearly the effects of a natural disaster on the economy were unpredictable, Gurria said.

Japan's Fukushima nuclear plant went into meltdown after it was struck by an earthquake and ensuing tsunami in March 2011. The suspension of economic activity hit Japanese auto industry hard.

The push for greater disaster awareness comes after Hurricane Sandy struck the US East Coast, a week after battering Jamaica, Haiti, the Dominican Republic and Cuba. Its remnants continue to cause rain and strong winds in Canada.

Kim warned that such events would grow more frequent and intense, as climate change effects grew stronger worldwide.

"For less developed countries, natural disaster costs represent one third of all development aid," he said. "The number of such once-in-a-lifetime events has increased dramatically in the last decade."