While weather disasters have increased in frequency since the 1970s, and are causing more damage today than ever before, there are still some encouraging signs within the data, as the number of people dying from these weather events has dropped over 75%, according to The CBC. From an estimated 170 people worldwide a day in the 70s and 80s, a recently released report from the World Meteorological Organization examining over 11,000 weather disasters from the last 50 years has found that over the last decade, the average number of people dying daily is down to about 40.
While there is good news about minimizing weather related deaths, says Petteri Taalas, the secretary general for the WMO to The CBC, “the bad news is that the economic losses have been growing very rapidly and this growth is supposed to continue. We are going to see more climatic extremes because of climate change, and these negative trends in climate will continue for the coming decades.”
Since the 1970s, damage from weather events has increased over eight-fold, as people continue to move into areas more exposed to extreme weather events, combined with more frequent weather-related disasters being driven by climate change.
Of the deaths tracked in the study, more than 90% were observed in developing nations, with the majority of deaths and damage being caused by storms, flooding, and droughts.
Source:
