By 2030, Humanity’s ‘spiral of self-destruction’ will cause 1.5 disasters every day: UN

It is worrying. Humanity’s future is threatened more than ever.

A newly released report by the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction, or UNDRR has found that in the last two decades, every year around 350 to 500 medium-to-large scale disasters took place around the globe.

What causes concern is that this is five times more than the average over the previous three decades.

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The UN cautioned that humanity is suffering from a "broken perception of risk," which is driving us to engage in activities and behaviours that contribute to climate change and an increase in natural disasters around the world.

It doesn’t end there. As climate changes, disasters caused by drought, severe temperatures, and devastating flooding are projected to become more common in the future.

According to the report, by 2030, the world will experience 560 disasters every year, or 1.5 disasters per day on average.

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The reason behind this drastic rise, according to UNDRR can be attributed to a "broken perception of risk based on optimism, underestimation and invincibility".

Humanity, however, continues to ignore the towering risks, “setting humanity on a spiral of self-destruction," warned UN Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed.

This indifference comes at a heavy cost. Over the last decade, disasters have cost around $170 billion per year around the world, according to the report; borne primarily by low-income countries.

Each year, disasters cost them one per cent of their national GDP, compared to 0.1 to 0.2 per cent in wealthy countries.

And if the number of disasters rises, so will the costs.

The report estimates that, by 2030, 37.6 million more people will be living in severe poverty as a result of climate change and natural catastrophes.

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(With inputs from agencies)