Weather and climate-related disasters now dominate trends: U.N.

Starting in 2011, drought-hit northern and eastern
Kenya suffered especially from an
already poor food security situation, worsened
 by high food and fuel prices. 

11 February 2016 – A new analysis issued today by the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNISDR) shows that 2015 – the hottest year on record – confirmed that weather and climate-related disasters now dominate disaster trends linked to natural hazards.

The analysis found that 98.6 million people were affected by disasters in 2015, and that climate – often aided by a strong El Niño phenomenon – was a factor in 92 per cent of those events. The disasters having the greatest impact were the 32 major droughts recorded throughout the year, which amounted to more than double the 10-year annual average and affected 50.5 million people.

Read the story from the UN News Centre - “New UN report reveals devastating human toll of disasters in'hottest year on record'.”