Extreme Weather Events are not something new, we’ve faced this for years and centuries. But with time it is/can become worse. There are some events that nearly damaged more than we can ever imagine. If we talk about India, according to the United Nations we suffered nearly $87 billion average annual loss. In China, the number has crossed $200 billion, and in Japan a little less than in India, $83 billion. According to the CEEW (Council on Energy, Environment, and Water), 75% of the districts are the hotspots for Extreme Weather Events in India. In this article, we will see what we (Indians) faced last year that is in 2020, Risk Index, and a few global events that are tragic.
Impacts of Extreme Weather Events in India, 2020-
Around 50 million people have been affected by floods and storms in 2020. Nearly, 5000 lives were lost due to these Extreme Weather Events last year. These effects are noticed when Amphan (one of the strongest cyclones) hits populated coastal areas in Bangladesh and India. It was the time of the rapid spread of COVID-19 in May 2020. In West Bengal (A state in India), 13.6 million people were affected. The damage of this is nearly $14 billion. The Cyclone supersede nearly 2.4 million people in India (mainly two states in India, West Bengal and Odisha). In Bangladesh, it’s nearly 2.5 million. Although many returned relatively soon afterward, thousands of people became homeless. This is due to many people didn’t have access to evacuation centers. During this time countries have to face the dual challenge of tackling the Covid pandemic and at the same time the impacts of extreme events like cyclones or floods.
China, Bangladesh, and India are among the major countries which felt the most disaster-related displacement globally.
Learn more: Cyclone- History, effects & how to be prepared for a Cyclone?
Extreme Weather Events in Canada, 2021-
This year we have seen a tragic event in Canada. Canada is considered one of the coldest countries in the world. Even people usually have seen or felt -20 degrees to -30 degrees of temperature there. But this year in summer Canada faced extreme heatwaves, some places like Lytton a village in Canada faced +49 degrees of temperature. If you compare this with Delhi, the highest ever temperature people faced is 48 degrees Celsius. Canada’s Lytton has crossed Delhi’s highest temperature. If we talk about Lytton, power cable started melting, people were seeing cracks on the roads. As Canada is a cold country most people didn’t have ACs in their homes, they had to take shelters like bus stands or railway stations where Ac was available. With time it became worse, Lytton face wildfire from its nearest forest. This wildfire burned down 90 percent of the village. If you see the data, with time Canada’s average temperature is increasing.
Few more Extreme Weather Events that we recently faced-
- Cyclone Tauktae 2021-The cyclone landfall in May, in Gujarat. Damaged more than 80,000 thousand houses. 67 people died. As per the record 81 people were missing after the cyclone effect.
- Cyclone Yaas 2021- During the same period another cyclone hits West Bengal in India, Yaas. This cyclone alone caused more than 2 billion dollars of loss in the state.
- Floods in India 2021-We’ve seen floods in different states at a different time period in India. Recently West Bengal had a severe flood, also in Maharashtra, Uttarakhand, and more. Due to these devastating floods, more than 150 people have died across India and Nepal.
- Floods in Germany 2021- Over 180 people have died and several people remain missing as a result of devastating floods in Germany caused by unprecedented rainfall, which is being referred to as Extreme Weather Events.
- Lightning Strikes in India-According to the CSE India sees a 34% rise in lightning strikes compared to the previous year. Also, you should know that lightning can be one of the major reasons that we are seeing a spike in the temperature. For the increase of every one degree Celsius of temperature, lighting increases by 12%. As per the lightning in density West Bengal ranked one.
Climate Risk Index
| Rank | Country | CRI |
|---|---|---|
| 01 | Japan | 5.5 |
| 02 | Philippines | 11.17 |
| 03 | Germany | 13.83 |
| 04 | Madagascar | 15.83 |
| 05 | India | 18.17 |
| 06 | Sri Lanka | 19 |
| 07 | Kenya | 19.67 |
Nearly 2,000 people lost their lives in 2018 extreme weather events. Per capita GDP decreased by 0.36%. The Indian subcontinent is one of the major victims of extreme heat, floods, and sandstorms.
Click here to know about GDP, types, and how to calculate GDP
Conclusion-
Extreme Weather Events of floods, storms, and droughts have huge impacts in different regions of countries. These effects agriculture and food security, increased displacements of people, also increase the health risks, the vulnerability of migrants & refugees. It is an overall loss of the natural ecosystem.