NEW DELHI: Top 10 climate disasters cost the world more than $288 billion and took over 2,000 lives in 2024 with the US alone taking the biggest hit of nearly 50% of the cost whereas five countries in south-east Asia, put together, facing over 40% of the total casualties.
A new report – Counting the cost 2024: a year of climate breakdown – compiling the economic impact and human casualties of big disasters across the globe shows though no part of the world was spared from such crippling events this year, North America (4) and Europe (3) reported seven of the 10 costliest disasters. Remaining three were reported from China, Brazil and south-east Asian countries.
“Most of these estimates are based only on insured losses, meaning the true financial costs are likely to be even higher, while the human costs are often uncounted,” said the report, released by the Christian Aid, a global NGO, on Monday.
It also noted that the impacts and costs of climate events fall disproportionately on those living in poverty in lower income countries. “This is because they will have fewer assets, less insurance and generally poorer access to comprehensive public services,” said the report.
Since the estimates are mainly based on insured losses, the report doesn’t include landslides in Wayanad, Kerala in its list of costliest disasters despite the events, linked to extremely heavy rainfall, witnessed killing of over 200 people in July.
In terms of events which caused the biggest financial cost in 2024, the US bore the brunt with Hurricane Milton in October topping the list as the single biggest one-off event at $60 billion in damage and killing 25 people. Hurricane Helene which struck the US, Cuba and Mexico in September was next at $55 billion and killed 232 people.
“In fact, the US was hit by so many costly storms throughout the year that even when hurricanes were removed, the other convective storms cost more than $60 billion in damage and killed 88 people,” the report said.
In terms of human casualties, Typhoon Yagi battered south-east Asia, killing more than 800 people in September. The Typhoon made landfall on September 2 in the Philippines, before moving on to Laos, Myanmar, Vietnam and Thailand, where it triggered landslides, flash flooding and damaged hundreds of thousands of homes and agricultural land worth $12.6 billion. Floods in China, costing $15.6 billion, killed 315 people during June-July.
On the other hand, European countries accounted for three of the top 10 costliest disasters with Storm Boris in central Europe and floods in Spain and Germany costing a combined $13.87 billion, and killing 258 people, 226 of which were in Valencia’s floods in October. In Brazil, floods in the state of Rio Grande do Sul killed 183 people and caused $5 billion in damage.
“These terrible climate disasters are a warning sign of what is to come if we do not accelerate the transition away from fossil fuels. They also show the urgent need for adaptation measures, especially in the global South, where resources are especially stretched, and people are most vulnerable to extreme weather events,” said Patrick Watt, Christian Aid CEO.
