By Reuters Apr 26, 2022 7:00:34 AM IST (Updated)
Human activity contributes to an increasing number of disasters, with 350 and 500 medium sized or large disasters a year which could increase to 560 a year by 2030, according to a UN report. It further said that disasters disproportionately impact developing countries, which lose an average of one percent of GDP a year.
Human activity is contributing to an increasing number of disasters, with 350 and 500 medium or large-sized disasters a year occurring globally in the past two decades, according to a UN report.
The number of disasters, many of them weather-related such as fires and floods, but also other hazards such as pandemics or chemical accidents could reach 560 a year, or 1.5 a day, by 2030, putting millions of lives in danger, the UN Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR) said in its global assessment report.
Climate change is causing more extreme weather events, it said, adding humans have made decisions that are too narrow in focus and have been over-optimistic about the risk of potential disasters, leaving them unprepared.