By 2030, flooding and extreme weather could cost South Asian countries US$215 billion every year
In the coming decade, devastating floods are expected to increase as changing weather patterns worsen risks in the region, climate researchers say
As global attention focused on hurricanes Harvey and Irma, more than 41 million people across South Asia battled floods and displacement.
From Afghanistan in the west to Bangladesh in the east, floods could cost South Asia – home to a fourth of the world’s people – as much as US$215 billion each year by 2030, according to the World Resources Institute’s global flood analyser launched in 2015.
“Companies with operations on coasts, next to large rivers, on low-lying flood plains and in urban areas with poor drainage and sanitation are at greatest risk,” said Tom Hill, executive director, crisis and security consulting, at Control Risks in New Delhi. “More rain and extreme weather will not only hit businesses in South Asia, but also global companies that source their products and raw materials from the region.”
More rain and extreme weather will not only hit businesses in South Asia, but also global companies that source their products and raw materials
At least 1,200 died last month as water swamped cities like India’s financial capital Mumbai, its technology hub, Bangalore, Bangladesh’s capital Dhaka, Pakistan’s financial heart, Karachi, as well as swathes of Nepal and India’s eastern states of Bihar and Assam. In the coming decade, devastating floods are expected to increase as changing weather patterns worsen risks in the region, climate researchers say.
Already floods affect more than 9.5 million people in the region each year, with GDP worth US$14.4 billion and US$5.4 billion at risk in India and Bangladesh respectively, according to WRI.
In 2016 alone, Asia reported losses worth US$87 billion from 320 natural disaster events, the world’s biggest reinsurer Munich Re reports. Of this, US$77 billion were uninsured losses.
While villages are more directly hit by droughts, it is cities that bear the brunt of flood-related losses, Jatin Singh, chief executive officer at private weather forecaster Skymet Weather Services said in a phone interview.
Thirty-four people died when Mumbai experienced its worst floods in more than a decade on August 28 through August 29, with the hardest-hit areas reporting as much as 150mm of rain within an hour, according to forecaster AccuWeather. On August 31 in Karachi, 23 people were killed when the city was swamped by 48mm of rain.