Down To Earth Story: Death at your doorstep

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Dr.JN Sharma

 

On 10/12/08, Dr.V.N. Sharma <vnsh44 wrote:

> The Article is from Down To Earth (Oct 15-31 Edition). It gives an idea of

> Flood, Drought and Cyclone Hotspots on our part of the Planet.

>

> Dr.V.N.Sharma

>

>

>

> Death at your doorstep

>

> <http://www.downtoearth.org.in/image/20081015/58L.jpg>

> <http://www.downtoearth.org.in/image/20081015/58L.jpg> Enlarge

> View<http://www.downtoearth.org.in/image/20081015/58L.jpg>

> *Afghanistan, India, Indonesia, Pakistan particularly vulnerable to extreme

> weather conditions *

>

> Flood-risk hotspots occur in Africa, including the Sahel, the Horn of

> Africa, Great Lakes region, Central Africa and Southeast Africa; Central,

> South and Southeast Asia; and Central America and the western part of South

> America

>

> Drought-risk hotspots are located in sub-Saharan Africa; South Asia,

> particularly Afghanistan, Pakistan and parts of India; and South East Asia,

> particularly Myanmar, Vietnam and Indonesia

>

> Cyclone-risk hotspots include Mozambique and Madagascar, Central America,

> Bangladesh, several parts of India, Vietnam and other Southeast Asian

> countries. As the frequency and intensity of cyclones increases, so will the

> number of communities at high risk. This will include communities further

> inland that are not used to coping with such disasters

>

> Areas at risk from more than one climate related disaster include much of

> sub- Saharan Africa, especially the east coast, and much of South Asia

>

> Some areas are at the risk of all three disasters. These include Southeast

> Africa and parts of South and Southeast Asia

>

> Human induced climate change magnifies the risk of disasters—avalanches,

> extremes of temperature, droughts, floods, landslides, wild fires and wind

> storms—everywhere but especially in those parts of the world where there are

> already high levels of human vulnerability

>

>

> Losses galore

>

> Between 2005 and 2006, natural disasters killed 120,000 people, affected 271

> million more and caused economic losses totalling US $250 billion

>

> In the decade 1984-1993, 1.6 billion people were affected by natural

> disasters compared with 2.6 billion in the following decade (1994-2003)

>

> Disaster cost between 1990 and 1999 was more than 15 times higher ( US $652

> billion in material losses) than it was between 1950 and 1959 ( US $38

> billion at 1998 values).

>

> 68 per cent of deaths and 89 per cent of all economic losses between 2000

> and 2007 resulted from weather-related disasters (Climate change threatens

> to dramatically increase both the number of people affected and the scale of

> economic damage)

>

>

> In the near future

>

> During the next 20-30 year period, we are likely to see:

>

> The number of people impacted by water scarcity may increase from 1.7

> billion in 2000 to around 5 billion by 2025. Climate change will account for

> roughly 20 per cent of this growth

>

> Intensification of the water cycle, tropical cyclones (due to higher sea

> surface temperatures) and a polarization of rainfall pattern

>

> Longer dry periods in many parts of the world

>

> Increase in the number, intensity and duration of droughts

>

> *Source: *Humanitarian Implications of Climate Change Report—Mapping

> emerging trends and risk hotspots (commissioned by CARE International and

> the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs)

>

> --

> Dr.V.N.Sharma

> http://canvas.nowpos.com/vnsharma

>