UN: Climate Disasters at Extraordinary Levels From 2000 To 2019

The United Nations Office on Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR) revealed on Monday that during the first two decades of 2020, there had been an extraordinary increase in natural disasters, and human activity is the main contributor to these catastrophes.

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“We are willfully destructive. That is the only conclusion one can come to when reviewing disaster events over the last twenty years. COVID-19 is but the latest proof that political and business leaders are yet to tune in to the world around them, "UN Secretary-General’s Special Representative for Disaster Risk Reduction Mami Mizutori said.

According to the UNDRR, from 2000 to 2019, "7.348 major recorded disaster events were claiming 1.23 million lives, affecting 4.2 billion people resulting in approximately $2.97 trillion in global economic losses."

Moreover, the report noticed that this is "a sharp increase" compared to the last 20 years of the past century, and floods and storms are the most frequent events.

Asia reported most disasters at a regional level with 3.068 events, followed by 1.756 in the Americas and 1.192 in Africa. Also, China and the U.S. report the highest numbers of disaster events.

Moreover, the investigation shows that in the first two decades of 2020, there were reported about 60.000 deaths per year. In particular, the unprecedented increase in geophysical events has killed more people than any other natural disaster reviewed in the investigation.

“Good disaster risk governance depends on political leadership and delivery on the promises made when the Paris Agreement and the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction were adopted five years ago," Mizutori said stressed.