OVER 2 MN KILLED; $3.64 TRILLION LOSSES REPORTED OVER NATURAL DISASTERS IN 50 YEARS

The number of disasters, such as floods and heatwaves, driven by climate change have increased five-fold over the past 50 years, killing more than 2 mn people and costing $3.64 trillion in total losses, a UN agency reported

The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) says its “Atlas” is the most comprehensive review of mortality and economic losses from weather, water and climate extremes ever produced

11,000 It surveys some disasters occurring between 1970-2019

The major catastrophes include Ethiopia’s 1983 drought, which was the single most fatal event with 300,000 deaths, and Hurricane Katrina in 2005 that was the most costly, with losses of $163.6 bn

The report showed an accelerating trend, with the number of disasters increasing nearly five-fold from the 1970s to the most recent decade

The WMO, whose report was issued days after Category 4 hurricane Ida hammered southern Louisiana, attributed the growing frequency to both climate change and improved disaster reporting

Costs from the events also surged from $175.4 billion in the 1970s to $1.38 trillion in the 2010s when storms such as Harvey, Maria and Irma ripped through the US

The WMO hopes the report, which gives a detailed regional breakdown, will be used to help governments develop policies to better protect people

Severe gaps in weather observations, especially in Africa, were undermining the accuracy of early warning systems

More than 91% of the 2 million deaths occurred in developing countries and only half of the WMO’s 193 members have multi-hazard early warning systems

Thanks to our early warning service improvement we have been able to have a decrease of the casualties at these kind of events, but the bad news is that the economic losses have been growing very rapidly and this growth is supposed to continue Petteri Taalas, WMO Secretary General