WMO: Asia most disaster-hit region in 2023; floods, storms and heatwaves drove record losses
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Summary
The U.N. World Meteorological Organization reported Asia recorded the highest number of casualties and economic losses from weather, climate and water hazards in 2023, citing 79 water-related disasters, more than 2,000 deaths and about 9 million people affected.
The U.N. World Meteorological Organization (WMO) said Monday that Asia was the world's most disaster-hit region for the second year running in 2023, with floods and storms causing the highest number of casualties and economic losses among weather-, climate- and water-related hazards.
WMO reported a total of 79 water-related disasters in Asia last year; more than 80% of those events were floods and storms. The agency said such events claimed more than 2,000 lives and affected about 9,000,000 people.
WMO also flagged increasingly severe heat waves and record high average temperatures in several places, noting particularly high averages from Western Siberia to Central Asia and from eastern China to Japan. Japan and Kazakhstan each recorded unusually warm years, the agency said. WMO noted accelerating climate change indicators in Asia — including glacier retreat and sea level rise — and reported that sea surface temperatures in the Northwest Pacific Ocean were the highest on record in 2023; the Arctic Ocean also experienced a marine heat wave.
"Asia is warming faster than the global average," the WMO assessment said, adding that the region's warming trend has nearly doubled compared with the period from 1961 to 1990. The U.N. summary was delivered on air by Daniel Johnson of U.N. News.
WMO said the results underscore growing climate-related risks in the region and the need to adapt to intensifying extremes. The agency's report provides data for policymakers and disaster planners but does not itself prescribe specific funding or policy measures.