The climate crises is expected to make many of these events more intense and frequent.
“Human-caused climate disruption is now damaging every region,” said Guterres in a video message. “Half of humanity is already in the danger zone.”
He added, “We must boost the power of prediction for everyone and build their capacity to act.”
“We must invest equally in adaptation and resilience. That includes the information that allows us to anticipate storms, heatwaves, floods and droughts,” Guterres said.
Inadequate warnings
While a third of the world lives without these crucial warning systems, in Africa, the number jumps to 60%.
“The meteorological services of Malawi and Zimbabwe were not able to forecast the event at all,” said Petteri Taalas, the Secretary-General of the WMO, in an email to CNN.
“In Mozambique the storm surge, wind speeds and rainfall amounts were forecasted by the national meteorological service, but the responsible authorities were not acting to prevent human and economic losses since they didn’t fully understand the risks caused by Idai.”
The WMO report also points out that “the number of recorded disasters increased by a factor of five over that 50-year period, driven by human-induced climate change, more extreme weather events and improved reporting.”
However, because of better warning systems in place, the number of lives lost has decreased by nearly three-fold.
A WMO analysis of the typhoon’s impact found people failed to evacuate because they underestimated the danger.
The research team concluded that there needed to be a more “integrated multi-hazard approach to warnings” and evacuation centers need to not be in areas that are at risk of flooding.
“Spending $800 million on such systems in developing countries would avoid losses of $3-16 billion per year,” the report also said. That savings would be up to 20 times the initial investment.
Some warnings come too late
In some cases, warnings are issued, but not soon enough for people to take action.
“Brazil’s National Meteorological Service had indeed warned of very heavy rainfall, but people were not prepared,” the WMO told CNN. Flash floods happen extremely quickly and are difficult to predict, and are also exacerbated by land use, building practices and a lack of urban planning, according to the WMO.
The WMO said it was continuing to fight for better weather warnings, and putting educational programs in place.
“Even though the number of disasters has increased and economic costs are rising, the death toll has fallen dramatically,” a spokesperson for the WMO said. “Horrific death tolls of hundreds of thousands of people 50 years ago in Bangladesh and Myanmar are now history.”
Guterres has tasked the WMO to present an action plan at the next UN climate conference in Egypt this November.
