Climate disasters caused Bangladesh a loss of $11.3 billion last year, the World Meteorological Organization said in a report on Tuesday.
Bangladesh ranked ninth among the top 10 countries in Asia, who were the worst sufferers due to natural disasters like cyclones, floods and droughts, according to the report titled “State of the Climate in Asia 2020”.
“Tropical cyclones, floods and droughts induced an estimated average annual loss (AAL) of several hundred billion dollars,” the report said.
Citing estimates by the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP), the UN weather agency said China suffered the highest loss, approximately $238 billion last year, while India and Japan lost $87 billion and $83 billion respectively.
“Extreme weather and climate change impacts across Asia in 2020 caused the loss of life of thousands of people, displaced millions of others and cost hundreds of billions of dollars, while wreaking a heavy toll on infrastructure and ecosystems,” the WMO said.
The report mentioned that Cyclone Amphan, one of the strongest cyclones ever recorded, caused Bangladesh more than $130 million economic loss.
The cyclone that hit the coastal areas in May last year, affected a total of 10 million people in 19 districts, damaged more than 3,30,000 houses and 1,76,000 hectares of agricultural lands (crops and fish/shrimp farms), and caused a loss of 14,000 livestock, it said.
According to the report, in 2019, approximately three fourths of Asia’s mangroves, a crucial natural ecosystem that provides coastal protection, were located in Bangladesh (24 per cent), Myanmar (19 per cent), India (17 per cent), and Thailand (14%), while mangroves in Bangladesh decreased by 19 per cent from 1992 to 2019.
