Once-a-century extreme weather events happen now in every 5 years!!
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New Delhi: A recent climate change report published by the Centre for Science and Environment suggested that extreme events that used to occur once every century are now happening every five years or even less in India.
The report, titled “Climate India 2024: An assessment of extreme weather events” and released on Friday, states that some or other parts of India faced some form of extreme weather event during 93 per cent of the days in the first nine months of the year 2024. According to experts, the trend is much worse than in previous years, and weather events are attributed to climate change.
The report said that out of the past 274 days, 255 days witnessed extreme weather events like heat and cold waves, cyclones, lightning, heavy rain, floods and landslides.
It revealed shocking findings that the first nine months of 2024 claimed 2,238 lives, affected 3.2 million hectares of crops, and destroyed 2,35,862 houses and buildings in the country.
Kerala experienced 550 fatalities out of the events, which is the highest among states. Madhya Pradesh follows Kerala with 353 deaths and Assam 256.
Andhra Pradesh experienced the highest number of houses getting damaged (85,806), while Maharashtra accounted for 60 per cent of total crop area damage nationwide. Maharashtra experienced 142 days of extreme events.
The Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) director-general Sunita Narain said that the mentioned record-breaking statistics reflect the impact of climate change. The frequency with which India witnesses disastrous events is overwhelming the most vulnerable populations, who lack the resources to adapt to this relentless cycle of loss and damage, Narain added.
She warned that the report is a warning and a call for urgent action that is required to mitigate climate change. Without restricting climate at a meaningful scale, today’s challenges will worsen tomorrow, she said.