Rising Climate Change, Floods And Heat Waves Hit The Earth

JAKARTA – Floods and heat waves often hit areas on Earth as a result of the fivefold increase in climate change in the last 50 years. The information was provided by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) which is under the auspices of the United Nations.

The disaster caused by climate change has killed more than 2 million people and caused a financial loss of 3.64 trillion dollars (Rp 51.981 trillion). WMO said that it had comprehensively reviewed the deaths and economic losses caused by climate extremes that had occurred.

WMO surveyed about 11,000 disasters that have occurred between 1979 and 2019, including the 1983 drought that hit Ethiopia which killed about 300,000 people. Also Hurricane Katrina that hit the United States in 2005 which has cost the US economy about 163.61 billion US dollars.

The survey proves an increase in natural disasters from the 1970s to the last decade. The report from the WMO shows that disasters are becoming more frequent from year to year as a result of global warming.

In addition, WMO also said that disaster management caused by extreme weather had increased from 175.4 billion dollars in the 1970s to 1.38 trillion US dollars in the 2010s when Hurricanes Harvey, Maria, and Irma devastated United States of America.

"Economic losses increase as exposure increases," said WMO Secretary General Petteri Taalas as quoted by Reuters.

However, the number of deaths caused by disasters has decreased significantly. In the 1970s it had claimed about 50,000 victims and in 2010 it had decreased to 18,000 due to the disaster. This decrease indicates better disaster management than before.

"The improved multi-hazard early warning system has led to a significant reduction in mortality," said Taalas.

However, this figure is inversely proportional to the number of deaths from natural disasters in developing countries. The WMO said 91 percent of the 2 million deaths were there. WMO also assesses that only half of the 193 WMO members have a disaster early warning system.

In addition, another factor mentions that the “severe gaps” regarding weather observations, especially in Africa, undermine the accuracy of disaster warning systems. With the report of the disaster caused by climate change, WMO hopes that it can help the government in designing policies to protect its citizens in a better way than before.