The Crime Desk: The number of weather- and climate-related disasters is increasing globally. Along with that, the amount of economic loss is increasing. In the last half-century, about 12,000 adverse events related to weather, climate, and water have occurred in the world. More than 2 million people lost their lives. The financial loss is at least 4.3 trillion dollars. However, due to the success of early warning systems, it has been possible to significantly reduce the number of relative casualties. These things have been said recently by the United Nations Meteorological Organization. Source: NBC News.
The Geneva-based World Meteorological Organization (WMO) said in a report on the effects of man-made climate change that the frequency and intensity of adverse weather events such as floods, cyclones, heat waves, and droughts are increasing due to rising temperatures. Economic losses have increased, the WMO said, emphasizing the importance of improving early warning systems. However, improved early warning and integrated disaster management have reduced casualties over the past half century.
According to United Nations statistics, disasters that occurred between 1970 and 2021 caused the largest economic loss in the United States—1.7 trillion dollars. However, 9 out of 10 deaths in these disasters occur in developing countries. Moreover, in terms of GDP, the impact of financial shocks has been felt most by developing countries. WMO Secretary-General Petteri Talas said Cyclone Mokha, which swept over Myanmar and Bangladesh this month, showed how the most vulnerable communities are vulnerable to weather, climate, and water-related hazards. He said that in the past, both Myanmar and Bangladesh have lost thousands and even hundreds of thousands of lives in natural disasters. But thanks to early warning and disaster management, this catastrophic death rate is now history. Early warning saves lives. According to the WMO, tropical cyclones are the major cause of loss of life and economic damage worldwide.
According to the agency, more than 1,800 weather, climate, and water-related disasters and 733,585 deaths have been recorded in Africa over the past half-century. Cyclone Idai in 2019 caused the most damage, at $2.1 billion. During the same period, about 1,500 disasters struck the Southwest Pacific, resulting in 66,951 deaths and $185.8 billion in economic losses. Asia faced more than 3,600 disasters, in which 9,84,263 people lost their lives. The economic loss is 1.4 trillion dollars. Most of the damage in this region is due to the cyclone. A total of 943 disasters occurred in South America, in which 58,484 people died. Economic losses exceed $115 billion. 77,454 people lost their lives in more than 2,100 disasters in North America, Central America, and the Caribbean. The financial loss was at least 2 trillion dollars. In the last half-century, Europe has seen about 1,800 disasters. 1 lakh, 66 thousand, 492 people died, resulting in 562 billion dollars in economic losses.
