Climate change, extreme weather have led to hundreds of thousands of deaths in India: UN

The United Nations agency published new figures on Monday (May 22) which indicated that extreme weather events caused nearly 600 disasters in India which claimed 138,377 livesin the past five decades. The World Meteorological Department (WMO) report also noted that such events have caused the death of two million people and $4.3 trillion in economic damage in the same time period.

UN report about Asia

According to the report by the UN agency, more than 90 per cent ofreported deaths across the world occurred in developing countries. The WMO said that between 1970 and 2021, Asia accounted for nearly 50 per cent of all reported deaths worldwide.

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India witnessed 573 disasters in the span of five decades which claimed the lives of 138,377 people between 1970 and 2021. According to the WMO, tropical cyclones are the leading cause of reported deaths in the continent. It said thattropical cyclone Nargis, which occurred in 2008, led to 138,366 deaths.

Furthermore, Bangladesh reported the highest number of casualties in Asia across 281 disasters. “The most vulnerable communities, unfortunately, bear the brunt of weather, climate and water-related hazards,” said WMO Secretary-General Petteri Taalas.

Taalas citedthe most recent example of the extremely severe cyclonic storm Mocha which wreaked havoc in Myanmar and Bangladesh last week, which exemplified this reality. He added the severe storm has “caused widespread devastation…impacting the poorest of the poor”.

Indian researchers echo warnings

Last year, a report released by researchers at the Indian Institute of Technology, Gandhinagar, said that the frequency of extreme weather events such as floods and heatwaves is projected to significantly rise in the country due to climate change.

Meteorologists hadpreviously warned about climate change increasing the instability in the atmosphere due to a rise in convective activity like thunderstorms, lightning and heavy rain events, as per the news agency PTI. Additionally, global warming has also led to cyclonic storms in the Bay of Bengal and the Arabian Sea to be longer and more intense than before.

Early warning systems for all

The findings in question were released at the quadrennial World Meteorological Congress in Geneva, Switzerland during high-level talks for ramping up action to ensure that early warning services reach everyone on earth.

The ‘United Nations Early Warnings for All initiative’ aims to make early warning services available for everyone by the end of 2027. WMO said Monday that 22,608 disaster deaths were recorded globally in 2020 and 2021 combined.

“Thanks to early warnings and disaster management these catastrophic mortality rates are now thankfully history,” the report noted, adding that “early warnings save lives”.

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