German watch, the Germany-based think tank, released the Global Climate Risk Index, 2021 analyses to what extent countries and regions have been affected by impacts of weather-related loss events (storms, floods, heat waves etc.).
Human impacts (fatalities) and direct economic losses were analysed. The most recent data available — for 2019 and from 2000 to 2019 — were taken into account.
The Global Climate Risk Index indicates a level of exposure and vulnerability to extreme weather events, which countries should understand as warnings in order to be prepared for more frequent and/or more severe events in the future.
The index is prepared based on the data from the Munich Re NatCatSERVICE11. The data is identified as one of the most reliable and complete databases worldwide, on this matter. Other than that, it also uses Socio-Economic data from the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
It analyses quantified impacts of extreme weather events. This analysis is presented both in terms of fatalities and economic losses, due to extreme weather events.
India ranked at 7th Position in Climate Risk Index 2021. It means India is the 7th worst-hit country by extreme weathers. In 2020, India ranked 5th on the index.
In 2019, the monsoon continued for a month longer than normal in India. 110% of the long-period average was recorded, between June to September 2019.
Flooding caused by heavy rain was responsible for 1,800 deaths across 14 states. It led to the displacement of 1.8 million people.
There were 8 tropical cyclones in India. 6 of them intensified to become “very severe”. ‘Extremely Severe’ Cyclone Fani affected 28 million people killing 90 people in India and Bangladesh causing economic loss to the tune of US$8.1 billion.
There were 11,000 extreme weather events globally between 2000 and 2019. Due to these events, over 4,75,000 people lost their lives and economic losses were around the US $2.56 trillion (in purchasing power parities).
Mozambique, Zimbabwe, and the Bahamas were respectively the top three countries, most affected in 2019.
Between 2000-2019, Puerto Rico, Myanmar and Haiti were the countries most affected by the impacts of such weather events.