Disasters affect 100 million people in 2015, UN experts
Baku, February 12, AZERTAC
Natural disasters affected almost 100 million people by last year, UN experts said Thursday, before warning that 2015 - the hottest year on record - is a sign for governments to take action now, according to UN Radio.
The data, released by the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNISDR) in partnership with CRED, shows that the most disaster-hit countries in the previous 12 months were China, India, Philippines and Indonesia.
In economic terms, UNISDR estimates that natural disasters cost around USD 66 billion.
Latest data on the human impact of natural hazards in 2015 shows that nearly 100 million people were affected, and that they claimed more than 22,000 deaths.
Colossal as these figures might be, they are in fact well below the 10-year trend, according to the UN Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNISDR).
The associated economic damage was also much more limited, at USD 66.5 billion, compared with the USD 140 billion average.
That's partly because of much better prevention measures put in place by governments.
So much for the good news, the bad news is that 2015 was the warmest on record, the result of climate change and the El Nino weather phenomenon.
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