Geneva. According to the World Weather Organization (WMO), early weather warning systems have led to a drastic reduction in fatalities in recent decades. Nevertheless, so far only half of all countries are equipped with such systems, the UN organization reported on Monday at the beginning of its general meeting in Geneva. The WMO again campaigned for a UN initiative to protect the entire world population by such systems by 2027.

While more than half a million people lost their lives as a result of droughts, floods, storms and other extreme events in the 1970s, the figure for the past decade has been fewer than 200,000.

According to WMO Secretary General Petteri Taalas, the benefits of warning systems were most recently demonstrated during cyclone “Mocha” in Myanmar and Bangladesh. While in the past such tropical cyclones resulted in tens or hundreds of thousands of deaths, this time there were talks of a few hundred. “Early warning saves lives,” Taalas said.

WMO: “The Most Vulnerable Populations Are Most At Risk”

Although mortality from weather catastrophes has fallen, the amount of damage has increased enormously over the past 50 years. Of the $4.3 trillion in damage since 1970, 60 percent has occurred in rich countries, it said. However, 90 percent of the total of 2 million deaths occurred in developing countries. “Unfortunately, the most vulnerable populations are most at risk from weather, climate and water,” Taalas said.

According to the WMO and climate researchers, extreme weather events have become more frequent due to man-made global warming. According to WMO statistics, the proportion of deaths from extreme temperatures has increased significantly in recent decades.

RND/dpa