According to a report released on Tuesday by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), India lost $87 billion last year owing to natural disasters including tropical cyclones, floods and droughts. This development occurred just days before a UN-led summit on climate change, named C0P26 commences in Glasgow, Scotland.
The WMO has used the reference of The United Nations of Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific in its report which estimated an average annual loss of several hundred billion dollars due to the disasters that hit India.
Compared to $87 billion loss suffered by India, China recorded steeper figures at $238 billion loss while Japan recorded lower losses at $83 million.
The report also shed light on the impact of climate change as the date of C0P26 UN summit comes nearer.The report confirmed that last year was the warmest year on record in Asia with a
mean temperature 1.39 degrees Celsius above the average recorded between 1981 to 2010.
Several heat extremes were cataloged where Russia’s Verkhoyansk broke all previous records by hitting 38 degreed Celsius, the highest temperature recorded ever within the Arctic circle.
The South and East Asia witnessedunusually active summer monsoons in the previous year with combinations of frequent tropical cyclones due to floods and landslides which cost several lives and migration in many countries.
Highest displacement of people was caused by cyclone Amphan which strongly hit the Sundarbans region in India and Bangladesh in May 2020 causing a displacement of 2.4 million people in India
