MIAMI.- In the world, different countries faced natural events that had social and economic consequences during the year 2023, such as floods, droughts and fires and cyclones caused by the global climate crisis, but some had a greater impact on the populations and economies of those nations.
A recent study by the association Christian Aidbased in the United Kingdom, managed to catalog the 20 events that it considered “most expensive climate disasters of the year” by per capita cost, to get a rough idea of the socioeconomic impacts of these natural events.
The list Counting de Cost 2023 iIncludes climate disasters in 14 countries, which may be more or less prone to economically costly catastrophes depending on their size, geography, income level and other factors, with the United States standing out for some of its largest climate disasters in 2023. according to Bloomberg information.
According to research released this Thursday, in which the relative economic impact of catastrophes varies considerably between countries, the average cost of the 20 worst climate disasters amounts to $4,000 per person in 2023.
The United States, China and Mexico have populations of more than 100 million and yet they experienced disasters that cost tens of dollars per capita, which means billions of dollars domestically,” stressed Nushrat Chowdhury, policy advisor for Christian Aid climate justice in Bangladesh.
Forest fire in Hawaii
The list for 2023 is headed by the forest fires on the island of Hawaii in the United States, which took place in the month of August, with an average cost of 3,700 euros per person.
On August 11, one of the most devastating forest fires in the country was recorded on the American island, especially in the town of Lahaina, where at least 115 people were reported dead and around 1,000 missing.
Other natural disasters in the United States
In addition to Hawaii, other climatic events caused by climate change that occurred in the American nation were positioned in the organization’s ranking.
Some areas of the east coast were hit by two cyclones, with a per capita cost of 22.7 and 14.5 euros respectively, which is why they occupy positions 15 and 19 in the ranking of 20.
In August, the southwestern United States was hit by record rains and severe flooding caused by Tropical Storm Hillary, the first to make landfall in California in 84 years, while much of the center and south suffered a desperate heat wave.
Then Tropical Storm Idalia formed, which strengthened and became a hurricane that made landfall in the United States as a category three in the Big Bend region of Florida.
The United States National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) reported that the United States has been affected by 25 different meteorological or climate disasters so far this year, the highest number since records began. . Natural disasters in the US in 2033 have had a cost of more than $73.00 million and 464 deaths, according to the NOAA.
The agency highlighted that in addition to the fires in Hawaii, Hurricane Hidalia and Tropical Storm Hilary, there were 19 severe storms in states such as Nebraska, Missouri, Illinois, Indiana and Wisconsin at the end of July, two floods in the northeast of the country and Pennsylvania during the second week of July, a winter storm in the northeastern United States in early August, a drought and heat wave in the central and southern states, a forest fire in Maui in August, hail and intense storms in mid-July in Michigan, Wisconsin, Ohio, Tennessee and Georgia and a set of intense storms in late June in Missouri, Illinois and Indiana.
The most expensive
Behind the fires in Hawaii, the Christian Aid organization ranks the storms recorded in Guam in May as a result of Cyclone Freddy in second place, which caused more than 650,000 people to be displaced, at a cost of $1,455 per capita, followed of the storm in Vanuatu in March in third place, with 947 dollars and the storm in New Zealand in February with a cost per person of 468.
Then the floods in New Zealand that occurred in February stand out with a cost of 371 dollars, the floods in Italy in May with a cost of 164 dollars, the floods in Libya in September with 105 dollars and the floods in Peru registered in April with 66 dollars per capita.
Christian Aid chief executive Patrick Watt said the human cost of the climate crisis is increasingly seen “in homes swept away and lives ended by floods and storms, and crops and livestock lost to droughts. This year was, once again, devastating if you live in a climate vulnerable country.”
To conduct the study, researchers analyzed data from EM-DAT, the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund (IMF), and AON third quarter data to cross-check the impact data of those disasters. They then divided the total damages caused by each catastrophe by the total population of the affected area, to determine the economic burden per person generated by those climate disasters.
@Lydr05
Source: With information from the Christian Aid organization, Bloomberg, NASA
