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The burden of weather disasters in 2020 fell disproportionately on the world s poorest nations SAEED KHAN Text size
The ten costliest weather disasters worldwide this year saw insured damages worth $150 billion, topping the figure for 2019 and reflecting a long-term impact of global warming, according to a report Monday.
The same disasters claimed at least 3,500 lives and displaced more than 13.5 million people.
From Australia s out-of-control wildfires in January to a record number of Atlantic hurricanes through November, the true cost of the year s climate-enhanced calamities was in fact far higher because most losses were uninsured.
Not surprisingly, the burden fell disproportionately on poor nations, according to the annual tally from global NGO Christian Aid, entitled Count the cost of 2020: a year of climate breakdown .
Only four per cent of economic losses from climate-impacted extreme events in low-income countries were insured, compared with 60 per cent in high-income economies, the report said.
Only 4% of economic losses from climate-impacted extreme events in low-income countries were insured, compared with 60% in high-income economies, the report said, citing a study last month in The Lancet.
âWhether floods in Asia, locusts in Africa, or storms in Europe and the Americas, climate change has continued to rage in 2020,â said Christian Aidâs climate policy lead, Kat Kramer.
Extreme weather disasters, of course, have plagued humanity long before man-made global warming began to mess with the planetâs climate system.
But more than a century of temperature and precipitation data, along with decades of satellite data on hurricanes and sea level rise, have left no doubt that Earthâs warming surface temperature is amplifying their impact.
The 10 costliest weather disasters this year saw insured damages worth $150 billion, topping the figure for 2019 and reflecting the long-term impact of global warming.
Fifteen extreme weather events, influenced by climate change, were identified globally this year, including the terrible floods that struck India cost $10 billion, killing 2,000, a UK charity report said on Monday. The London-based Christian Aid s report, Counting the cost 2020: A year of climate breakdown , said 10 of those events cost $1.5 billion or more. The US was hit by the highest costs due to the record-breaking hurricane season and fires. Most of these estimates are based only on insured losses, meaning the true financial costs are likely to be higher. While the report focuses on financial costs, which are usually higher in richer countries because they have more valuable property, some extreme weather events in 2020 were devastating in poorer countries, even though the price tag was lower.