Weather-Related Disasters Average to 335 Events Every Year Since 2005

Summary: Weather-related disasters are becoming almost daily occurrences worldwide, with an average of 335 events every year in the decade between 2005 and August 2015.

3D view, using TRMM (Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission) Precipitation Radar, from the west of rainfall structure within area of disturbed tropical weather; on Tuesday, May 6, 2014, rain fell at rate of 66 millimeters per hour (about 2.6 inches) in stormy area of India (5.2 degrees N 77.1 degrees E); tallest thunderstorm towers, forming over Sri Lanka, had heights pushing to altitudes above 13 kilometers (about 8 miles); storm's heavy winds produced "prawn rain" as fish, uplifted by storm from rivers, rained upon village of Chitaw; images and captions by Hal Pierce (SSAI/NASA GSFC): Generally not subject to copyright in the United States, via NASA Global Precipitation Measurement

Weather-related disasters average almost daily occurrences in the decade between 2005 and August 2015, according to the United Nations report The Human Cost of Weather Related Disasters published online Nov. 23, 2015.

The United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction bases its findings upon a 10-year database of weather-related disasters whose occurrences average to 335 events per year. UNISDR considers weather-related disasters events that affect at least 100 people, kill at lease 10 or require declarations of a state of emergency or international assistance. Thirty years of data-recording demonstrate for weather-related disasters recurrence intervals that are up 14 percent from 1995 to 2004 and twice those from 1985 to 1994.

Asia emerges as the most impacted region.

UNISDR finds the greatest number of global weather-related disasters since 2005 occurring by country in the United States, with a 10-year-total of 472 events.

Combined totals of 1,166 give Asia the regional lead with 441 weather-related disasters in China, 288 in India, 274 in the Philippines and 163 in Indonesia. The last two decades have peaks in 2002 with 100 million experiencing China’s sandstorm and 200 million India’s drought, and in 2008 with Cyclone Nargis’s 138,000 deaths. The Emergency Events Data Base identifies the highest incidence of and the severest impacts from drought in Africa, with EM-DAT records of 136 events since 1995.

Floods and heat waves join droughts and storms as EM-DAT’s world-deadliest weather-related disasters.

Asia claims seven of the top 10 countries for highest absolute number of people affected by weather-related disasters and also holds the regional lead for weather-related disasters: Christiana Figueres @CFigueres, via Twitter Nov. 26, 2015

Atmospheric levels of carbon dioxide, the greenhouse gas that causes the global warming that produces heat waves, keeps rising every year over the last three decades.

EM-DAT lists 90 percent of all heat wave deaths as happening in high-income countries and 89 percent of all storm-related deaths as occurring in low-income countries. Debarati Guha-Sapir, professor at the Centre for Research on the Epidemiology of Disasters (CRED) at UCL University in Louvain, Belgium, mentions that “Floods are definitely increasing.” Margareta Wahlström, head of UNISDR, notes that heavy rainfall events and poor construction planning cause floods, which claim 2.3 billion affected, homeless, injured people since 1995.

More than 47 percent of global weather-related disasters since 1995 occur as floods.

Weather-related disasters provoke 16,000 cold-related, 148,000 heatwave-related, 157,000 flood-related and 242,000 storm-related deaths.

Estimated $250 billion to $300 billion yearly losses quantify weather-related events at 90 percent of global disasters, versus 10 percent for geophysics-related earthquakes, tsunamis and volcanoes.

The CRED and UNISDR co-authored report reveals: “While scientists cannot calculate what percentage of this rise [in weather-related disaster incidences and impacts] is due to climate change, predictions of more extreme weather in future almost certainly mean that we will witness a continued upward trend in weather-related disasters in the decades ahead.”

The report serves up sobering facts for the 21st Climate Change Conference of Nov. 30 to Dec. 12, 2015, in Le Bourget suburb of Paris, France.

Weather and Climate Related Disasters in the Last 20 Years, infographic by UN OCHA (Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs) Design Team, published by UN Office for Disaster Risk Reduction, UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, Thursday, Feb. 25, 2016: UNISDR @unisdr, via Twitter Nov. 26, 2015

Acknowledgment

My special thanks to talented artists and photographers/concerned organizations who make their fine images available on the internet.

Image credits:

3D view, using TRMM (Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission) Precipitation Radar, from the west of rainfall structure within area of disturbed tropical weather; on Tuesday, May 6, 2014, rain fell at rate of 66 millimeters per hour (about 2.6 inches) in stormy area of India (5.2 degrees N 77.1 degrees E); tallest thunderstorm towers, forming over Sri Lanka, had heights pushing to altitudes above 13 kilometers (about 8 miles); storm's heavy winds produced "prawn rain" as fish, uplifted by storm from rivers, rained upon village of Chitaw; images and captions by Hal Pierce (SSAI/NASA GSFC): Generally not subject to copyright in the United States, via NASA Global Precipitation Measurement @ http://pmm.nasa.gov/node/1117

Asia claims seven of the top 10 countries for highest absolute number of people affected by weather-related disasters and also holds the regional lead for weather-related disasters: Christiana Figueres @CFigueres, via Twitter Nov. 26, 2015, @ https://twitter.com/CFigueres/status/669934240365215746

Weather and Climate Related Disasters in the Last 20 Years, infographic by UN OCHA (Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs) Design Team, published by UN Office for Disaster Risk Reduction, UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, Thursday, Feb. 25, 2016: UNISDR @unisdr, via Twitter Nov. 26, 2015, @ https://twitter.com/unisdr/status/669817042942492672

For further information:

Centre for Research on the Epidemiology of Disasters CRED and The United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction UNISDR. The Human Cost of Weather Related Disasters 1995–2015.
Available @ http://reliefweb.int/sites/reliefweb.int/files/resources/COP21_WeatherDisastersReport_2015_FINAL.pdf

Christiana Figueres @CFigueres. 26 November 2015. ".@UN report shows 90% of disasters are weather-related. Another wake up call ahead of #COP21." Twitter.
Available @ https://twitter.com/CFigueres/status/669934240365215746

“The Human Cost of Weather Related Disasters (1995 – 2015).” ReliefWeb > Updates > 23 November 2015.
Available @ http://reliefweb.int/report/world/human-cost-weather-related-disasters-1995-2015

Miles, Tom. 23 November 2015. “Weather Disasters Occur Almost Daily, Becoming More Frequent: U.N.” Reuters > Edition U.S. > Green Business.
Available @ http://reliefweb.int/report/world/human-cost-weather-related-disasters-1995-2015

UNISDR @unisdr. 26 November 2015. "The state of the world since COP1 1995. We need a #COP21 deal to reduce these losses." Twitter.
Available @ https://twitter.com/unisdr/status/669817042942492672