Although the larger disasters tend to take over the news cycle and public attention, an article in the Smithsonian points to the impact that smaller scale events can have in terms of climate emergencies. Mami Mizutori, disaster risk reduction advisor to the U.N. secretary-general, told The Guardian that these low-impact disasters occur once a week and that flooding, extreme heat and other events can cause death and displacement that requires government investment in adaptation and resilience measures. These measures could include infrastructure standards for housing, transportation, and supply networks for power and water as preventative rather than reactionary methods, including relying on natural barriers for flooding, or combining ministry resources to deal with these issues.
“We talk about a climate emergency and a climate crisis, but if we cannot confront this [issue of adapting to the effects], we will not survive,” said Mizutori. “We need to look at the risks of not investing in resilience.”
The article cites a report from the World Bank and the Global Facility for Disaster Reduction and Recovery (GFDRR) in 2017, listing the impact of extreme natural disasters as equivalent to a global $520 billion loss in annual consumption, forcing approximately 26 million people into poverty each year.
