SANTA MONICA, Calif. (MarketWatch) -- With so much attention being given to the tragedy in Myanmar -- new figures put the number of dead or missing at 70,000 due to the devastating effects of Cyclone Nargis -- it's worth looking at our own shores for potential catastrophe: Half the U.S. population lives within 50 miles of seashore.

In terms of dollars, businesses would be hit the hardest in a U.S. coastal disaster. Taking that into consideration, private and public sector groups are looking at ways to find public policy and private-market solutions to better protect coastal communities.

The Resilient Coasts Initiative is one such effort. Launched last week by the socially responsible business organization Ceres and the H. John Heinz III Center for Science, Economics and the Environment, it is bringing together a broad coalition of insurers, regulators, politicians, environmental organizations, real estate developers and investors to address the need for climate adaptation to reduce ever-increasing coastal risks in the United States. Participants include American International Group, Inc., Travelers, Risk Management Solutions and the chief financial officer of the State of Florida.

"Coastal protection needs to be part of our national conversation on climate change," says Ceres president Mindy Lubber, in announcing the joint venture with the Heinz Center at the Ceres conference in Boston last week. "This is an historic moment in which public and private-sector leaders recognize the rising threat of climate change in coastal communities and the need for strong policies and market-based solutions to reduce that exposure."

The initiative is eerily prescient.

Cyclone Nargis last weekend ripped through Myanmar, formerly Burma, affecting some 1.5 million people, according to the United Nations.

Major weather events are sure to bring collateral damage, and that damage is costing lives as well as lots of money. Residents of Cape Cod, for example, have seen their home insurance premiums double over the past two years. In many coastal communities insurance companies are refusing to underwrite coverage at all.

New solutions are needed

While it's tempting, bad weather shouldn't be mistaken for climate change. Weather is today, or next week. Climate change is the likelihood of weather events over a period of years.

Unfortunately we are at the bend in the global climate. It means more than policy. It means people, places and things are affected. Societies must learn to adapt (how about putting more resources into better predictions!) and businesses too.

"When we're all getting tired of rhetoric, we are seizing the opportunity to establish a blueprint for protecting our most vulnerable places and people," says Thomas Lovejoy, president of the Heinz Center.

The cost of Hurricane Katrina, the 2004 tsunami in the Indian Ocean and now Myanmar's cyclone point to reasons why we must create an early-alert system for those places most vulnerable to severe weather events. Of the 180 countries in the world with low-lying coastal zones, 130 of them, including the U.S., have built their largest cities on these zones.

So far, no mega cities have been whacked by crushing storms. We shouldn't wait until that happens (which without proper warning systems and procedures, just might).

Our national weather system satellites are in desperate need of repair. One reportedly doesn't even function. The government has yanked funding from weather programs and cut back on investing in new technology. We are going blindly along as always. Yet we aren't heading blindly along into a storm; it's headed into us.

Waiting until it's too late

It will be too late after the fact of another major environmental catastrophe to say: "Why didn't we do something sooner? How couldn't we know? Why weren't we warned and prepared?" These questions are too hauntingly familiar.

We need to fund better weather programs and procedures and invest in new systems that have the potential to save us from the results of what aren't aberrations any more: heightened weather events. The future costs are just too great not to.

The Resilient Coasts Initiative has a few key areas that more should embrace: limit new development in the most vulnerable areas, strengthen and upgrade existing buildings to prevent further losses, and promote infrastructure investments that will help communities adapt to a rise in sea levels.

Climate change is happening ... now. Myanmar should be a tragic reminder for us all. And we shouldn't need any more reminding.