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UNDRR: Human Cost of Disasters 2000-2019

 


Why in News

In a new report “The Human Cost of Disasters 2000-2019”, the United Nations pointed out that climate change is largely to blame for a near doubling of natural disasters in the past 20 years.

  • The report is published by the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR). The report did not touch on biological hazards and disease-related disasters like the coronavirus pandemic.
  • International Day for Disaster Risk Reduction is observed on 13th October every year.

Key Points

  • Findings:
    • 7,348 major disaster events had occurred between 2000 and 2019, affecting 4.2 billion people and costing the global economy some USD 2.97 trillion.
      • The figure is far more than the 4,212 major natural disasters recorded between 1980 and 1999.
    • 6,681 climate-linked disasters had been recorded in the period 2000-19, up from 3,656 during the previous 20-year-period.
      • Climate-related disasters include disasters categorized as meteorological, climatological, or hydrological.
      • There had also been an increase in geophysical events like earthquakes and tsunamis that are not related to climate but are particularly deadly.
    • Major floods had more than doubled to 3,254, there had been 2,034 major storms up from 1,457 in 20 years.
      • India is the 2nd most affected country by floods after China.
    • Extreme heat is proving especially deadly. Heatwaves of 2015 in India resulted in 2,248 deaths.
    • The deadliest single disaster in the past 20 years was the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami, with 2,26,400 deaths, followed by the Haiti earthquake in 2010, which claimed some 2,22,000 lives.
    • The data showed that Asia has suffered the highest number of disasters in the past 20 years with 3,068 such events, followed by the Americas with 1,756 and Africa with 1,192.
    • In terms of affected countries, China topped the list with 577 events followed by the United States with 467 and India (321 events).
Source: UNDRR
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