November 2013: Typhoon Haiyan, 'apocalyptic’ storm flood in Sardinia, tornadoes in the Midwest of the US, heavy flooding in Baghdad, rare flooding in Saudi Arabia. The death toll from one of the strongest storms that ravaged the Philippines reached several thousands. Although the death tolls of the other mentioned events related to extreme weather are much lower, they contribute to a more intensive discussion on climate change and natural hazard related disasters. The facts regarding the losses due to such disasters are clear: there is an increasing trend.
Several factors play a role: the damage potential is increasing (increasing population, more intense use of increasingly dense infrastructure, etc.), building space in areas where natural hazards can be avoided is decreasing and lastly the number of extreme events related to climate change is potentially increasing. The latter can only be proved by long term data series, which for the moment are not available. At least not with the same recording intensity - thanks to the communication means we have today, almost each single falling rock or sliding slope is being described and photographed. What is true, however, is that the global climate is changing, and beacuse of that, it is very likely that we will have to deal with changing patterns and changing intensities of natural events, as well as with an event frequency that will not decrease. In their 2013 report, the Global Facility for Disaster Risk Reduction and Recovery (GFDRR) and the World Bank conclude in that it is important to ultimately strengthen disaster resilient development. This includes coordinating institutions, identifying risk hot spots, which means defining hazard scenarios and analysing the risk, defining risk reduction measures, being prepared for extreme events, organising financial and social protection, and promoting resilient reconstruction. Clear progress has been made, but many challenges remain. Click here for more information.
Below: Losses due to catastrophes related to natural hazards (NatCat - MunichRe)
