Home » The UN on the climate: “Twelve thousand disasters and 2 million deaths in 50 years”

The UN on the climate: “Twelve thousand disasters and 2 million deaths in 50 years”

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The UN on the climate: “Twelve thousand disasters and 2 million deaths in 50 years”

Extreme weather, climate and water events have caused 11,778 disasters in the past 50 years, resulting in two million deaths and billions of dollars in economic damage worldwide. This is what was reported in a report by the World Meteorological Organization (Wmo), meeting today at its congress in Geneva. More than 90% of the deaths occurred in developing countries, while the economic damage caused by floods, storms and fires has increased eight-fold since 1970, for a total of 4.3 trillion dollars. Since then, the loss of human life has decreased dramatically thanks to improved early warning systems and disaster management.

Europe and other areas

In 50 years there have been 166,492 deaths in Europe from extreme climatic events, 8% of the victims worldwide. Between 1970 and 2021, Asia was the area most affected by weather, climate and water disasters and which paid the most in terms of victims, while the United States with Central America and the Caribbean area paid the most in economic terms. These are the 2021 data from the UN Atlas on mortality and economic losses related to droughts, floods, cyclones and other atmospheric phenomena. Here’s what happened in different areas of the planet. In Europe in 50 years there have been 1,784 extreme events causing 166,492 deaths and 562 billion dollars in economic losses. Between 1970 and 2021, Europe accounted for 8% of deaths reported worldwide. Extreme temperatures have been the main cause of deaths while floods have caused the greatest economic losses.

Asia reported 3,612 disasters with 984,263 deaths and $1.4 trillion in economic losses between 1970 and 2021. Over 50 years, the continent accounted for 47 percent of global deaths, with tropical cyclones being the leading cause : ‘Nargis’ in 2008 caused 138,366 deaths. Bangladesh has the highest death toll in Asia with 520,758 deaths from 281 events. In North America, Central America and the Caribbean, 2,107 cases of extreme weather events have been reported, causing 77,454 deaths and damages for 2,000 billion dollars. Between 1970 and 2021, the region accounted for 46% of reported economic losses worldwide. The United States alone suffered damages of 1.7 trillion dollars, equal to 39% of global losses in the last 51 years mainly from tropical cyclones. In Africa between 1970 and 2021, 1,839 disasters and 733,585 deaths were reported, 95% of which due to drought and 43 billion dollars in damages. Tropical cyclone ‘Idai’ in March 2019 was the costliest event in Africa (US$2.1 billion). In the southwestern region 1,493 disasters, 66,951 deaths and $185.8 billion in losses.

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Tropical cyclones were the leading cause of death. South America: 943 disasters were reported, of which 61% floods, and 58,484 deaths with 115.2 billion in damages. More than 60% of economic losses related to weather disasters occurred in developed economies. However, this is damage equivalent to less than 0.1% of gross domestic product (GDP) in the respective economies in more than 4/5 of these disasters. No disasters with economic losses exceeding 3.5% of their respective GDPs have been reported, explains the WMO. In the least developed countries, 7% of disasters for which economic losses were reported had an impact equivalent to more than 5% of their respective GDPs, with several disasters causing economic losses of up to nearly 30%. In Small Island Developing States, 20% of disasters with economic losses had an impact equivalent to more than 5% of their respective GDPs, with some disasters causing economic losses exceeding 100%.

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