Floods, storms, heat waves and other natural disasters have cost the lives of 600,000 people since 1995, according to the UN in Geneva today also warns that the trend is to continue to increase.
Facing the climate change conference that starts next Monday in Paris, the UN Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNISDR) said that all these natural phenomena affecting more than 4,000 million people.
In the last four years they have been counted about 3,400 events of these characteristics, 14 percent more than in the previous ten years and almost double that in the period 1985-1995. "The world is paying a high price," said ISDR director, Margareta Wahlström, referring to global warming.
Moreover, it has not been compiled while economic damage produced by these disasters. The UN office estimated that earthquakes and tsunamis causing damage annually by between 250,000 and 300,000 million dollars (between 234,000 and 281,000 million euros). The floods are recurring phenomena. Almost half of registered disasters due to heavy rainfall.
Natural disasters cost more lives are storms. Since 1995, more than 242,000 people have died due to strong winds. The countries most affected by natural disasters are the United States (472), China (441), India (288), Philippines (274) and Indonesia (163).