The ten largest natural disasters in 2021 caused a cumulative damage of $ 170 billion, researchers at the British charity Christian Aid calculated, based on the amount of insured losses.
The most “costly” cataclysm in the outgoing year was hurricane “Ida”, which hit the southeastern part of the United States in August – September. The number of victims of the hurricane, which became the fifth most powerful in American history, was 95, and the damage from it was estimated at $ 65 billion.
In second place were floods in Europe, which began in July in Germany, France and the Benelux countries after torrential rains caused by Cyclone Bernd. They killed 240 people and caused $ 43 billion in damage. The third place was taken by the February snow storm in Texas, which killed 210 people in Texas and cut electricity for millions of people. Damage from this storm reached $ 23 billion.
The top five most destructive natural disasters round out the July floods in the central Chinese province of Henan (302 victims, $ 17.6 billion) and the abnormally cold weather in France in April ($ 5.6 billion). Among other major cataclysms, the flood in the Canadian province of British Columbia in November (4 victims, $ 7.5 billion), the cyclone Yaas, which killed 19 people in India and Bangladesh in May ($ 3 billion), and the flood in Australia in March were also mentioned. (2 victims, $ 2.1 billion), hitting China, Japan and the Philippines in July typhoon “Yinfa” (5 victims, $ 2 billion) and cyclone “Tauktae”, which in March affected the coast of India, Sri Lanka and the Maldives. It killed 198 people and caused $ 1.5 billion in damage.
At the same time, other disasters in 2021 caused significant damage to people or ecosystems without such high financial costs, the study notes. These include the largest drought in Argentina in 100 years, shallowing the Parana River, flooding in South Sudan, the shallowing of Lake Chad, and heat waves in western Canada and the US Pacific coast.
To prevent further cataclysms, countries around the world must urgently reduce greenhouse gas emissions, the study authors assure. More advanced economies need to provide more funds to support vulnerable communities living in less developed countries, as the latter are less involved in the outbreak of the climate crisis, but are disproportionately affected by its consequences, the document says. Among the measures proposed by Christian Aid is the creation in the coming year of a fund to combat the consequences of the cataclysm caused by climate change.
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