Weather-Related Disasters Increase Over Past 50 Years, Causing More Damage but Fewer Deaths

May - June 2022

A disaster related to a weather, climate or water hazard occurred every day on average over the past 50 years – killing 115 people and causing US$ 202 million in losses daily, according to a comprehensive new report from the World Meteorological Organization (WMO). The number of disasters has increased by a factor of five over the 50-year period, driven by climate change, more extreme weather and improved reporting. But, thanks to improved early warnings and disaster management, the number of deaths decreased almost three-fold.

According to the WMO Atlas of Mortality and Economic Losses from Weather, Climate and Water Extremes (1970 – 2019), there were more than 11 000 reported disasters attributed to these hazards globally, with just over 2 million deaths and US$ 3.64 trillion in losses.

The report is the most comprehensive review of mortality and economic losses from weather, water and climate extremes to date. It assesses the entire 50-year period as well as by individual decade.

Source: public.wmo.int

You can share this post!

Related Articles

There is No natural Disasters

Kevin Blanchard, a Fellow at the Royal Geographical Society (FRGS), is an M.Sc in Environment, Politics & Globalis ...

Dr. Mukesh Kapila

Dr. Mukesh Kapila is Professor of Global Health & Humanitarian Af ...

Paradox on Vulnerability and Risk Assessment for Climate Change and Natural Hazards

Dr Bapon (SHM) Fakhruddin is Technical Director - DRR and Climate Resilience. He is aninternational disaster ris ...

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Subscribe to Magazine

Submit your Article

Know Disasters, a bi-monthly magazine, aims to promote knowledge transfer and dissemination of information on all aspects of disaster risk management by demystifying and simplifying the disaster risk reduction (DRR) measures to all stakeholders, including the common man.

© 2022 | All Right Reserved | Website Design by Innovative Web

Submit your Article

Subscribe Now