Weather-related disasters have spiked over the last 50 years

The number of weather-related disasters, such as floods, droughts and heatwaves has increased by almost five times over the past 50 years, according to a new report from the World Meteorological Organisation (WMO), an agency of the UN.

The report, which the WMO claims is its most comprehensive to date, estimates that severe weather causes around $202 million in damages and takes the lives of 115 people a day on average - with extreme weather being clocked nearly every day over the last five decades.

However, better access to technology such as early warning systems and improved disaster management has decreased the number of deaths almost three-fold within the same time frame.

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The report measures patterns of extreme weather between 1970 and 2019. In that time, nearly 11,000 disasters were reported that have been attributed to these hazards globally, leading to the deaths of 2 million people and causing $3.64 trillion (€3.08 trillion) in damages, the authors claim.

Events have worsened in recent decades, as global temperature increases have continued to spike disasters, despite warnings against the continued burning of fossil fuels.

Global temperatures are primarily driven up by greenhouse gas emissions driven by increased industrial production and the use of fossil fuels. This has lead to a number of countries and companies actively pledging to reduce carbon emissions, with mixed results.

The so-called "green revolution" has pushed towards renewable energy, increased electrification of transport, breakthroughs in sustainable agriculture and the decarbonisation of mining, metals, manufacturing and heavy industry.

The International Energy Agency (IEA) recently revealed that "radical change" was needed on the road to net-zero to negate the worst effects of climate change, including the cessation of new oil and gas projects.

Read more: Radical change needed en route to net-zero, IEA warns

A report by a different UN panel, the IPCC, has also concluded that "strong and sustained" reductions in emissions were key to securing the climate future while also having other positive side-effects, such as improved air quality and eventual stabilisation of global temperatures.

One area for concern is the increasing likelihood of droughts, particularly along the equator. The report hints that in the last 50 years, droughts have killed 650,000 people, with storms clocking in at 587,000 deaths in the same time frame.

The report states that three of the ten costliest disasters - all hurricanes, with all ten of the worst storms in the past 50 years being tropical cyclones - happened in 2017 alone, with Hurricane Harvey causing a little under $100 million (€84.6 million) in damages, while Hurricanes Maria and Irma caused $69 million (€58.3 million) and $58 million (€49 million) in damages, respectively.

Combined, these three hurricanes account for 35% of the damages of the top 10 most severe weather effects between 1970 and 2019.

From 1970 to 2019, weather, climate and water hazards accounted for 50% of all disasters, 45% of all reported deaths and 74% of all reported economic losses, the report claims. Of these, floods accounted for 44%, while tropical cyclones accounted for 17% of all weather-related disasters.

More than 91% of these deaths occurred in developing nations, with their status as developing nations running under the UN definition, with the report indicating only around half of the nations surveyed have multi-hazard early warning detection systems in place

Total deaths worldwide dropped almost threefold within the same time frame. Roughly 50,000 people were killed by disasters in the 1970s, dropping to fewer than 20,000 in the 2010s. The 1970s and 1980s on average reported 170 disaster-related deaths per day, dropping to below 40 in the 2010s.

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However, storms and floods have caused by far the most economic harm, with economic losses attributed to weather disasters having increased sevenfold since the 1970s.

Reported losses from 2010-2019 averaged around $383 million per day.

“The number of weather, climate and water extremes are increasing and will become more frequent and severe in many parts of the world as a result of climate change,” says WMO Secretary-General Prof. Petteri Taalas.

“That means more heatwaves, drought and forest fires such as those we have observed recently in Europe and North America. We have more water vapor in the atmosphere, which is exacerbating extreme rainfall and deadly flooding. The warming of the oceans has affected the frequency and area of existence of the most intense tropical storms,” he added.

Taalas has revealed a veneer of hope lies beyond such "stark statistics" owing to the human cost of such disasters continuing to drop.

"Quite simply, we are better than ever before at saving lives,” he concluded.

Mami Mizutori, the head of the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR) said the risk of disaster only increases with time as global temperatures continue to climb, aided by population growth spikes in high-risk areas.

She added: "More international cooperation is needed to tackle the chronic problem of huge numbers of people being displaced each year by floods, storms and drought. We need greater investment in comprehensive disaster risk management ensuring that climate change adaptation is integrated into national and local disaster risk reduction strategies."

The report primarily acts as an atlas to a potential climate disaster and presents a number of key areas that could aid in the battle against climate change, including strengthening disaster protocols.

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One risk of increased severe weather is tropical cyclones becoming more severe and more unpredictable, with ever-changing tracks and travelling at increased speeds. The WMO recommends countries traditionally out of range of tropical cyclones should review their respective hazard exposure and vulnerability and act accordingly.

It also recommends countries have mored measures in place to deal with weather-related events that typically take significant time to manifest, such as droughts.

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