[ad_1]
The passage of Hurricane Iota caused severe damage in the region. Although 2020 has broken records for the number of hurricanes in the Atlantic with 30 storms so far, this is the most powerful of the year.
The consequences in the archipelago of San Andrés and Providencia can explain this, since the arrival of this storm it has affected 99 percent of Providencia’s infrastructure. In turn, the hurricane’s hit caused flooding in 70 percent of Cartagena and left more than 150,000 victims in this city.
In context: could the tragedy in Providencia be avoided due to Hurricane Iota?
Ten municipalities in Chocó were also affected by the floods and landslides, as well as Antioquia, where heavy rains caused by Iota have left more than 10 missing and three dead.
Satellite image of Hurricane Iota. Photo: Ideam
On the northern coast of Nicaragua, although they managed to evacuate some 40,000 people prematurely, winds of over 250 kilometers per hour caused serious damage. This, just two weeks after receiving Hurricane Eta, which left 200 dead and entire crops devastated.
What happens? In addition to the pandemic, Natural disasters were on the agenda in 2020. This is nothing new, however, these events are becoming more frequent and devastating.
In January, the year began with deadly fires in Australia that devastated nearly 12 million hectares, affected more than 3 billion animals and killed 33 people.
It might interest you: Why do cyclones hit Mexico and the United States so often?
Subsequently, both in the Brazilian Amazon and in California, United States, forest fires were again protagonists because, due to drought, strong winds and high temperatures, putting them out was almost impossible. In the case of Brazil, the flames destroyed more than two million hectares of the Pantanal, the largest wetland in South America, while in the case of the east coast of the United States, the fires destroyed 1.6 million hectares and forced evacuation. about 90,000 people.
Tropical storms, hurricanes and cyclones also gave no respite. The rains and winds are getting stronger, leaving behind floods, landslides and often irreparable damage for the inhabitants of the affected regions.
The big manager
According to a recent United Nations report, climate change is the main culprit for the doubling of natural disasters in the world in the first twenty years of this century.
According to the multilateral organization, these natural disasters have killed more than 1.2 million people since 2000. The report’s figures indicate that between 2000 and 2019 there were 7,348 natural disasters, costing 1.23 million lives. affecting 4.2 billion people, representing an approximate cost of global economic losses of $ 2.97 trillion.
This is indicated by the study by the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR) the rich nations did little to address the polluting emissions linked to climate risks that make up the majority of today’s climate disasters.
We recommend: there are seven years left to prevent the planet from collapsing due to climate change
“Covid-19 has really made governments and the general public aware of the risks around us. They can see that if covid-19 is even terrible, the climate emergency can be even worse,” said the secretary general. of the UNDRR, Mami Mizutori, at a press conference. “If there is an ecological reactivation, we will only increase the climate emergency”, he insisted.
This century has seen a “startling” increase in natural disasters, says a United Nations report.
“We continue to consciously sow the seeds of our own destruction.” @UNDRR_Americas https://t.co/mt0To6DbH9
– UN News (@NoticiasONU) 12 October 2020
The report, which does not include epidemiological risks such as coronavirus, shows that the trend of natural disasters is mainly linked to the increase in climate disasters, which went from 3,656 (1980-1999) to 6,681 (2000-2019).
Human impact
“We are deliberately destructive. It is the only conclusion that can be reached when we look at the catastrophes that have occurred in the last twenty years,” condemned Mizutori.
Floods have doubled and storms have been the most frequent disasters over the past two decades. According to the report, floods accounted for 40% of the total disasters affecting 1.65 billion people, followed by storms with 28%; earthquakes 8 percent and extreme temperatures 6 percent.
Floods leave millions of people affected every year and have become one of the most frequent disasters of the last decade, according to the UN
Despite promises from the international community to reduce the global temperature rise to 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels, Mizutori called “disconcerting” that nations continue. “knowingly sowing the seeds of our own destruction, despite the evidence and evidence that we are turning our one home into an uninhabitable hell for millions of people. “
We suggest: epidemics, another consequence of climate change
For the official, despite extreme weather events having become common occurrences over the past twenty years, only 93 countries have implemented national disaster risk strategies.
“Disaster risk management depends primarily on political leadership and keeping the promises made when the Paris Agreement and the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction were approved,” he said.
Heat waves, a serious problem
For the next ten years, the United Nations estimates that the most serious problem will be heat waves. Overall, the death toll has increased, from 1.19 million between 1980-1999 to 1.23 million between 2000-2019, although the number of people affected by these natural disasters has increased, from 3.250 million people to 4,000. millions.
“More lives saved but more people affected by the growing climate emergency. The risk of catastrophe is becoming systemic, ”Mizutori said, urging the world to follow the scientists’ recommendations and invest in programs to prevent and adapt to climate change.
The fires in California this year have been stronger than on previous occasions. Photo: AP
Asia, where eight of the top ten countries with the greatest number of disasters are located, is the most affected region, followed by the Americas and Africa.
China and the United States are the countries that have reported the most disasters, followed by India, the Philippines and Indonesia. These countries have relatively high population densities in risk areas, the report indicates.
Read also: “It takes leaders to fight climate change”: Greta Thunberg
The years 2004, 2008 and 2010 were devastating, with over 200,000 deaths each. The 2004 tsunami in the Indian Ocean caused more than 220,000 victims, the most deadly.
The second most serious accident occurred in 2010 in Haiti, when an earthquake measuring 7 on the Richter scale killed 200,000 people and injured 300,000. In 2008, Cyclone Nargis killed 138,000 people as it passed through Burma.
The report also highlights that the average number of deaths worldwide between 2000 and 2019 has risen to around 60,000 per year, and that no “mega-catastrophe” has occurred since 2010, considering that such disasters are where they count most. of 100,000 dead.
* With information from AFP and UN News
.
[ad_2]
Source link
