The U.N. Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNISDR) said Monday that 90 percent of major disasters over the last 20 years have been caused by 6,457 recorded floods, storms, heatwaves, droughts, and other weather-related events. UNISDR found in a report that the five countries hit by the highest number of disasters are the United States, China, India, Philippines, and Indonesia. "Weather and climate are major drivers of disaster risk and this report demonstrates that the world is paying a high price in lives lost," Margareta Wahlstrom, head of UNISDR, said in a statement. "Economic losses are a major development challenge for many least developed countries battling climate change and poverty." According to the report, 606,000 lives have been lost and 4.1 billion people have been injured, left homeless, or in need of emergency assistance as a result of weather-related disasters since the first U.N. climate change conference (COP1) in 1995. The report also found that economic losses from weather-related disasters are much higher than the recorded figure of $1.891 trillion, which accounts for 71 percent of all losses attributed to natural hazards over the 20-year period. UNISDR estimates that the true figure on disaster losses - including earthquakes and tsunamis - is between $250 billion and $300 billion annually. "In the long term, an agreement in Paris at COP21 on reducing greenhouse gas emissions will be a significant contribution to reducing damage and loss from disasters which are partly driven by a warming globe and rising sea levels," Wahlstrom said.
