The article discusses a World Meteorological Organization (WMO) report stating that climate change is increasing the frequency and severity of weather-related disasters. WMO Secretary-General Petteri Taalas cited research showing that weather disasters have quintupled over a 50-year span, partly due to improved reporting systems. This data comes from the Emergency Events Database (EM-DAT), which may inflate disaster counts due to enhanced reporting capabilities. The United Nations’ Human Cost of Disasters report, which includes geophysical hazards, reveals that earthquakes account for a significant portion of disaster fatalities. However, when excluding these events, University of Colorado’s Roger Pielke Jr. found a 10% decline in weather and climate disasters from 2000 to 2021, countering popular perceptions of rising incidents. Pielke recommends using direct weather and climate data for assessing climate changes instead of disaster counts. The article suggests that increased damages are largely due to greater wealth and population density in vulnerable areas, rather than an increase in disaster frequency.
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