Tue 27 Apr 2021 01.00 EDT UK aid cuts to a programme working to reduce the disaster risk to poor communities around the world could endanger millions of lives and slam shut a brief window of opportunity to build safer cities for centuries to come, experts have warned. Professor John McCloskey, from Edinburgh University, said the 70% cut to this yearâs budget for the Tomorrowâs Cities project was an act of âvandalismâ that had wrecked the past two years of collaboration with scientists, NGOs, authorities and communities in Ecuadorâs capital Quito, Nairobi, Kathmandu and Istanbul. Globally, about 2 billion urban-dwellers are exposed to hazards such as floods, earthquakes, fires, volcanoes and landslides, threatening the cyclical destruction of lives and livelihoods, according to Tomorrowâs Cities. With urban areas expanding rapidly, it expects this number to reach 4 billion by 2050, while hazards are increasing because of the climate crisis.