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In fact, India’s floods, which killed 2,067, caused loss of more human lives than casualties in all other 14 destructive climate disasters put together. Floods in Pakistan which claimed 410 lives figured at second spot followed by the US and central American countries (400 lives lost in hurricanes) at the third position in the list of 15.
On cost of these financially devastating events, the report, ‘Counting the Cost 2020: A Year of Climate Breakdown’, prepared by the UKbased non-profit organisation Christian Aid, said, “Most of these estimates are based on insured losses so the true figure is likely to be much higher.”
The compilation, released on Sunday, noted that the cyclone ‘Amphan’, which struck the Bay of Bengal in May, had caused financial losses valued at $13 billion in just a few days in India and Bangladesh and caused loss of 128 human lives.
Other events unfolded over months, like floods in China and India, had an estimated cost of $32 billion and $10 billion respectively. The report shows five of the ten most costly events took place in Asia. As far as displacement/evacuation of people due to disasters is concerned, Cyclone ‘Amphan’ caused displacement of the highest number of people at 4.9 million in India and Bangladesh, followed by floods in China (3.7 million) and Japan (3.6 million).
“The Covid-19 pandemic has understandably been a major worry this year. For millions of people in vulnerable parts of the world, climate breakdown has compounded this. The good news is that, like the vaccine for Covid-19, we do know how to fix the climate crisis. We need to keep fossil fuels in the ground, boost clean energy investment and help those who are suffering on the front line,” said Kat Kramer, Christian Aid’s climate policy lead and author of the report.
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