Major disaster events occurred between 2000 and 2019, killing 1.23 people, affecting 4.2 billion people and costing the global economy about $ 2.97 trillion.
Geneva, Switzerland:
The United Nations said on Monday that climate change is largely responsible for the doubling of the number of natural disasters in the past 20 years.
The United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction said that 7,348 major disasters occurred between 2000 and 2019, claiming 1.23 lives, affecting 4.2 billion people, and costing the global economy about $ 2.97 trillion.
The United Nations office said in a new report entitled "The Human Cost of Disasters 2000-2019" that the number far exceeds 4,212 major natural disasters that were recorded between 1980 and 1999.
The report said the sharp increase is largely due to an increase in climate-related disasters, including climate extremes such as floods, droughts and storms.
The extreme heat proved particularly deadly.
It accused governments of not doing enough to prevent climate risks and called for better preparedness for looming disasters.
'An uphill battle'
"The odds are for us to face opposition when we fail to act on the basis of science and early warning to make investments in prevention, adaptation to local weather and disaster risk reduction," she said.
The report did not address biological risks and disasters associated with diseases such as the Coronavirus pandemic, which has killed more than a million people and infected more than 37 million in the past nine months.
But Missouri pointed out that the Coronavirus is "the latest evidence that political leaders and businessmen have not yet committed to the world around them."
Monday's report showed that 6,681 climate-related events have been recorded since the turn of the century, up from 3,656 during the previous 20-year period.
While the major floods more than doubled to 3,254, there were 2,034 major storms, up from 1,457 in the previous period.
Mizutori said public health authorities and rescue workers are "waging an uphill battle against the ever-increasing tide of extreme weather events."
While better preparedness and early warning systems have helped reduce the number of deaths in many natural disasters, she warned that "more people are being affected by the expanding climate emergency."
A bloody disaster
Monday's report relied on statistics from the Emergency Events Database, which records all disasters that kill 10 or more people, affect 100 or more people, or lead to the declaration of a state of emergency.
The data showed that Asia suffered the largest number of disasters in the past twenty years, with 3068 such events, followed by the Americas with 1,756 cases, and Africa with 1,192.
In terms of countries affected, China topped the list with 577 events, followed by the United States with 467.
While warming climate appeared to be the driver behind the number and intensity of these disasters, there has also been an increase in geophysical events such as earthquakes and tsunamis that are not climate related but are particularly deadly.
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