Ten years since the Indian Ocean Tsunami, which took more than two lakh lives across countries, our shores have hardly remained calm. Battered by cyclones and storms, in which some more lives and lot more infrastructure has been lost, India and its neighbouring countries remain on the hit list — from the sea.

However, the region does not stand alone. Climate change, which can and does impact some countries more than the other, has increased the incidents of extreme weather events.

While this Christmas we have been spared, in the US, several cities have been left battered by a tornado that hit its shores on December 23, killing at least four and injuring over 50. Though individual weather events cannot be attributed to climate change specifically, scientists have noted a trend — increase in the number of extreme events.

According to data from the Emergency Events Database, the average number of extreme weather events in the 2000-10 decade was more than 350. This jump has been markedly high in each decade since 1960s — rising from about 45 in 1960-69, to above 71 in 1970-79, doubling to 140 in the 1980s, and mounting to 224 in 1990s.

The curve of this graph appears eerily in line with the increase in CO2 emissions from fossil fuels, which has seen an increase by 16 times since 1900 and by about 1.5 times just between 1990 and 2008, according to the US Environmental Protection Agency.

The correlation between the increase in greenhouse gas emissions, such as CO2, and the increase in global mean surface temperature is well documented. While average temperature sees peaks and troughs on a yearly basis, the average increase in the world’s surface is beyond doubt.

Data from the Earth Observatory of NASA corresponds to scientific data from around the world — that the earth’s temperature has increased by up to 1 degree Celsius since 1900s. “The rate of temperature increase has nearly doubled in the last 50 years,” the NASA noted.

This increase, too, corresponds with the increase in extreme weather events. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) made no bones about the fact that if a complete disaster is to be averted and earth’s temperature increase kept below 2 degree Celsius, action has to be taken now. The various graphs that continue to mimic each other have resulted in very real losses. “Estimates of annual losses have ranged since 1980 from a few billion US dollars to above $200 billion (in 2010),” noted a special report of the IPCC ‘Managing the Risks of Extreme Events and Disasters to Advance Climate Change Adaptation’.

This loss is also a low estimate, the report added. “Loss estimates are lower bound estimates because many impacts, such as loss of human lives, cultural heritage, and ecosystem services, are difficult to value and monetise, and thus they are poorly reflected in estimates of losses.”

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