India bore climate change brunt in ’23

Asia remained world’s most disaster-prone region from weather and water-related hazards last year: WMO

As the Asia region warms more than the global average, tropical nations, such as India, stand at the risk of a variety of extreme weathers ranging from heatwave, floods and drought, a latest report by World Meteorological Organisation (WMO) on state of the climate in Asia-2023 has said.

According to WMO, a UN agency which oversees building resources for weather, climate and water, Asia remained the world’s most disaster-hit region from weather, climate and water-related hazards in 2023.

Floods and storms caused the highest number of reported casualties and economic losses, whilst the impact of heatwaves became more severe, it revealed.

“Asia is warming faster than the global average. The warming trend has nearly doubled since the 1961–1990 period,” said the report, adding that in India, severe heatwaves in April and June, 2023 resulted in about 110 reported fatalities due to heatstroke.

“A major and prolonged heatwave affected much of South-east Asia in April and May, extending as far west as Bangladesh and Eastern India, and north to southern China, with record-breaking temperatures,” the report said.

The WMO has said that the El Niño phenomenon also had a role to play in warming the Asia region. Hot and dry conditions in South Asia in summer 2023 associated with the weaker-than-normal Asian summer monsoon were because of El Niño. For example, in August, India experienced a record-high monthly mean temperature, as well as an unprecedented rainfall deficit for the month. Extreme hot conditions persisted over South-east Asia from early summer to autumn 2023. This delayed the onset of the Indian summer monsoon in 2023. According to the data collated by WMO, the Indian summer monsoon seasonal rainfall (ISMR), averaged over India as a whole, was 94% of its climatological normal for the 1971–2020 period.

On the other hand, another extreme of precipitation unfolded in other regions of the country and in Asia, causing heavy rains and flooding. In June and July, several flood and storm events resulted in at least 599 reported deaths across India, Pakistan and Nepal due to flooding, landslides and lightning.

India witnessed landslides in July and August last year as monsoon rains intensified. Widespread floods and landslides in hill states claimed 25 lives and caused damage to infrastructure and agriculture.

Floods were another extreme event across India and Pakistan, causing fatalities and putting focus on the high level of vulnerability of the region to natural calamities, the WMO said.

Last year also marked the rare, but long expected event in India of Glacial Lake Outburst Flood (GLOF). The GLOF, which originated in South Lhonak in Ladakh, led to collapse of the Teesta III hydroelectric dam at Chungthang in North Sikkim causing widespread devastation downstream. According to the National Emergency Response Centre of India (NDMI), there were over 100 deaths and over 70 missing individuals. This type of disaster, the WMO said, is increasingly observed because of climate change-induced glacier retreat and highlights the compounding and cascading risks faced by vulnerable mountain communities.