Natural disasters hit poor people hardest and getting worse — World Bank
Marrakesh — Natural disasters drive at least 26-million people a year into poverty and cause more than $500bn in lost consumption, far exceeding the value of damage to property alone, according to a World Bank report released on Monday. Those numbers will be driven up in the coming decades as climate change amplifies the destructive power of cyclones, flooding and drought, said the report, released during high-level UN climate talks in Marrakesh. Up to now, global calculations of the damage wrought by Nature on communities have not adequately taken into account disparities in wealth, according to the 190-page report titled Unbreakable: building the resilience of the poor in the face of natural disasters. The new approach has huge implications for how and where to best spend money to make cities and rural areas more resilient to such shocks. "One dollar in losses does not mean the same thing to a rich person as a poor person," said lead author Stephane Hallegatte. "The same loss affe...
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