It also calls for the development of integrated and proactive policies on slow-onset disasters such as drought.Ī woman walks across a flooded road in Santo Tomás, San Salvador, after Tropical Storm Amanda caused a landslide. The Atlas further recommends countries to review hazard exposure and vulnerability considering a changing climate to reflect that tropical cyclones may have different tracks, intensity and speed than in the past. The UNDRR chief warned that the failure to reduce disasters losses as set out in the 2015 Sendai Framework is putting at risk the ability of developing countries to eradicate poverty and to achieve other important Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Mizutori called for a greater investment in comprehensive disaster risk management to ensure that climate change adaptation is integrated in national and local disaster risk reduction strategies. More international cooperation is needed to tackle the chronic problem of huge numbers of people being displaced each year by floods, storms and drought”, said Mami Mizutori, UN Special Representative and head of the Office for Disaster Risk Reduction ( UNDRR).

“More lives are being saved thanks to early warning systems, but it is also true that the number of people exposed to disaster risk is increasing due to population growth in hazard-exposed areas and the growing intensity and frequency of weather events. Only half of WMO’s 193 member countries have multi-hazard early warning systems and severe gaps in weather and hydrological observing networks exist in Africa, some parts of Latin America and in Pacific and Caribbean island States, the report warns. Examples include the extreme rainfall in eastern China in June and July 2016 and Hurricane Harvey, which hit Houston in 2017.Ī woman walks through water in an area affected by flooding in East Jakarta, Indonesia. Moreover, an increasing number of studies are also finding human influence exacerbating extreme rainfall events, sometimes in conjunction with other major climate influences. This has augmented the vulnerability of low-lying megacities, deltas, coasts and islands in many parts of the world. The Atlas clarifies that the attribution of drought events to anthropogenic, or human, factors, is not as clear as for heatwaves because of natural variability caused by large oceanic and atmospheric oscillations, such as El Niño climate pattern. However, the 2016-2017 East African drought was strongly influenced by warm sea-surface temperatures in the western Indian Ocean to which human influence contributed.Ĭlimate 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. Moreover, the probability of heatwaves has been significantly increased due to human activity, according to several studies done since 2015. WMO cited peer-reviewed studies in the Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society, showing that over the period 2015 to 2017, 62 of the 77 events reported, revealed a major human influence at play. More water vapor in the atmosphere has exacerbated extreme rainfall and flooding, and the warming oceans have affected the frequency and extent of the most intense tropical storms, the WMO chief explained. Quite simply, we are better than ever before at saving lives”, said WMO Secretary-General Petteri Taalas.ĭuring past 50 years, weather, climate and water extremes caused average US$ 202 million economic losses PER DAY.ģ of top 10 disasters were in 2017: Hurricanes Harvey (US$96.9 bn), Maria (US$69.4 bn) and Irma (US$58.2 bn), per WMO report /Mflj8hIyDS- World Meteorological Organization September 1, 2021

Improved multi-hazard early warning systems have led to a significant reduction in mortality. But, behind the stark statistics, lies a message of hope. “Economic losses are mounting as exposure increases. Thanks to improved early warning systems and disaster management, the number of deaths decreased almost threefold between 1970 and 2019 - falling from 50,000 in the 1970s to less than 20,000 in the 2010s. Lifesaving early warning boostīut the news is far from all bad. There were more than 11,000 reported disasters attributed to these hazards globally, with just over two million deaths and $3.64 trillion in losses. More than 91 per cent of the deaths occurred in developing countries. According to the agencies' Atlas of Mortality and Economic Losses from Weather, Climate and Water Extremes, from 1970 to 2019, these natural hazards accounted for 50 per cent of all disasters, 45 per cent of all reported deaths and 74 per cent of all reported economic losses.

Big weather events 2016