UN report says natural disasters increased five times in half a century

The number of disasters related to weather, climate, or water hazards has increased five times over the past 50 years.

According to a report by the UN’s World Meteorological Organization (WMO), economic damage from natural disasters also surged sevenfold over the past 50 years.

At least 115 people die and USD202 million is spent every day on average due to climate disasters and water hazards over the past half-century, the WMO added.

According to the report, from 1970 to 2019, weather, climate and water disasters accounted for 50 percent of all disasters, 45 percent of all reported deaths, and 74 percent of all reported economic losses.

These disasters account for just over two million deaths, more than 91 percent of which occurred in developing countries.

Drought appears to be the deadliest natural disaster in the past 50 years, the report notes, causing about 650,000 deaths, followed by storms (more than 577,000 deaths), floods (58,700 deaths) and extreme temperatures (about 56,000 deaths).

The WMO notes however that 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.

The report attributes the increase in disasters to climate change, as more water vapor in the atmosphere exacerbated extreme rainfall and flooding, and the warming oceans affected the frequency and extent of tropical storms.

‘The number of extreme weather, climatic and hydrological events is increasing. As a result of climate change, they will become more frequent and more violent in many parts of the world’ WMO Secretary-General Petteri Taalas said in a press statement.

The WMO’s report warns that severe gaps in weather and hydrological observing networks exist in Africa, some parts of Latin America and in Pacific and Caribbean island States, as only half of the organization’s member states have early multi-hazard warning systems.