Countries hit by natural disasters in the past eight months
More than 14,000 scientists have signed an initiative declaring a worldwide climate emergency.
PRETORIA, September 16 (ANA) – Climate change and increasingly extreme weather events, have caused a surge in natural disasters over the past 50 years disproportionately impacting poorer countries, the United Nations (UN) said in it’s recent report.
According to agencies, Atlas of Mortality and Economic Losses from Weather, Climate and Water Extremes, from 1970 to 2019, natural hazards accounted for 50 percent of all disasters, 45 percent of all reported deaths and 74 percent of all reported economic losses.
Storms are the most prevalent cause of damage, resulting in the largest economic losses around the globe.
Climate change has also increased extreme sea level events associated with some tropical cyclones, which have increased the intensity of other extreme events such as flooding and associated impacts.
In the past eight months, these are countries that have been affected by natural disasters.
Mexico
In early September, heavy rains caused the Tula and Rosas rivers to overflow their banks and flood the surrounding areas.
A hospital belonging to the Mexican Institute of Social Security lost power, leading to the deaths of 17 patients believed to be due to the loss of oxygen when the power failed, Los Angeles Times reported.
Haiti
In August, Hiatians were served with a double blow of disaster, the impoverished Caribbean nation was left reeling after Tropical Storm Grace swept over the country with drenching rains just two days after a powerful earthquake left over 2,000 dead, more than 330 missing and more than 130,000 house destroyed.
Canada
In Canada, the Canadian Interagency Forest Fire Centre reported 6,187 fires that had burned more than 4.16 million hectares of land. This number includes 18 out-of-control fires. In June, more than 230 deaths were reported in Canada’s province of British Columbia after a historic heatwave brought record-high temperatures.
US
Beginning of September, hurricane Ida brought widespread destruction in some states in the US before being downgraded to a tropical storm.
CNN reported that the death toll from Hurricane Ida-pummeled cities in the East rose to 46 after New Jersey announced that at least 23 people had died there.
The broadcaster said majority of the deaths were people caught in their vehicles by flooding and were “overtaken by the water.”
The BBC said that in New Jersey, a tornado flattened the state’s largest dairy farm, ripping roofs off buildings and toppling several large silos.
Germany
In July, Western Europe recorded the worst natural disaster to occur in more than half a century after leaving over 180 people dead and thousands missing, CNN reported.
The US broadcaster said the flooding, caused by unprecedented rainfall, hit parts of western Germany before shifting to neighbouring Belgium and the Netherlands.
According to the World Meteorological Organization, some parts of the continent received up to two months’ worth of rainfall in two days on soils that were already near saturation.
China
In July, twelve people died after heavy rainfall flooded underground railway tunnels in China, leaving passengers trapped in rising waters, the BBC reported.
The British broadcaster said several dams and reservoirs breached warning levels, and soldiers were mobilised to divert rivers which have burst their banks.
An increasing number of studies are also finding human influence exacerbating extreme rainfall events, sometimes in conjunction with other major climate influences.
– African News Agency (ANA); Editing by Naomi Mackay
