GENEVA, 18 September 2018 – This year will probably go down as one of the hottest years on record and is turning out to be another remarkable year for extreme weather events.
Record temperatures, heatwaves, storms, floods, drought and heavy rainfall have been evident across the globe. Following earlier catastrophes this year, notably wildfires in north America and Europe, widespread flooding in India, flooding and landslides in Japan, we are now experiencing floods and storms which are disrupting the lives of millions across the Americas, Africa and Asia.
This confirms the long term trend of the last forty years which has seen a doubling in the number of recorded extreme weather events which now regularly account for 90% of disasters caused by natural hazards notably floods, storms, landslides and wildfires.
Despite the extensive threat posed by events such as Typhoon Mangkhut in the Philippines and China, we are seeing relatively low mortality because of the success of weather forecasting, early warning systems and better public understanding of disaster risk.
The most visible sign of this is the record numbers of people who have been evacuated out of harm’s way over the last ten days, notably in the US, China and the Philippines.
However, the economic losses are likely to be considerable and the impact on the poor will be hardest. This underlines the importance of strategies to reduce disaster risk which include better adaptation to climate change.
UNISDR would like to draw attention to the growing risk posed by landslides worldwide due often to a combination of human activities and heavy rainfall.