India helps 5 countries develop early warning systems: Meteorological Department

Fifty percent of countries have no early warning system

New Delhi:

IMD chief Mrutyunjay Mohapatra said India is helping Nepal, Maldives, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Mauritius develop early warning systems to reduce loss of life and property caused by extreme weather events.

In a conversation with PTI editors, the Director General of the India Meteorological Department (IMD) said that India will play the role of a big brother and peer advisor to Nepal, Maldives, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Mauritius in their efforts to guard against the effects of climate change. Extreme weather events.

India’s efforts are part of the Early Warning for All initiative announced by the United Nations in 2022 to ensure that everyone is protected from severe weather, water or climate events through life-saving early warning systems by the end of 2027.

Mr. Mohapatra said that India is helping five out of 30 countries around the world in the first phase of the initiative to establish early warning systems.

“50% of countries do not have early warning systems. Poor countries, least developed countries and small island countries, such as the Maldives and Seychelles, do not have the ability to provide early warning for extreme weather events. As a result, people die and lose a lot of property due to disasters,” he explain.

These countries need financial and technical support to enhance their meteorological observations. He added that financial support will be provided through public-private partnerships and countries such as India have pledged technical support.

“We will help these five countries establish meteorological observatories so that they can use our numerical models, create decision support systems and computing capabilities,” Mr Mohapatra said.

Mohapatra said the International Institute for Management Development will provide forecasts and warnings, and each country’s communications ministry has also been involved to help develop data exchange and warning dissemination systems.

According to a report released by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) in December, 101 countries (52%) currently have multi-hazard early warning systems.

WMO findings reveal a worrying trend, with disasters increasing more than fivefold between 1970 and 2019. Water-related disasters have become the most common disasters around the world, with tropical cyclones causing the greatest harm to humans and the economy.

From 1970 to 2021, nearly 12,000 weather, climate or water-related disasters occurred around the world, causing more than 2 million deaths and economic losses of US$4.3 trillion.

According to official reports, approximately 41,789 people died in disasters each year between 2015 and 2022. And the number of people affected by disasters has been increasing, with more than 130 million people affected by disasters worldwide every year.

In Asia, more than 146,000 people lost their lives due to disasters from 2013 to 2022, and more than 911 million people were directly affected. Economic losses in 2022 alone will exceed $36 billion, primarily due to floods and storms.

It is estimated that by 2030, the world will face 560 large and medium-sized disasters every year. The World Meteorological Organization says climate change not only makes disasters more likely, but also makes it more difficult to deal with them.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)