Natural disasters forced 32 million people from their homes last year

More than 32 million people were forced to flee their homes in 2012 because of disasters like floods, storms and earthquakes — almost twice as many as in 2011, says a new report.

Most disaster-induced displacement was caused by climate and weather-related disasters, the report by the Norwegian Refugee Council’s Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre says.

More than 98 per cent of the people displaced were in developing countries in Asia and Africa.

“Thirty-two million people . . . that is the human cost of climate change,” said Gordon McBean, director of research at Western University’s Centre for Environment and Sustainability in London, Ont.

McBean said he isn’t surprised by the staggering numbers. “The impact of climate change isn’t small. That’s what these numbers say.”

Wild weather struck all corners of the Earth in 2012. Massive floods in northeast India and most of Nigeria displaced almost 13 million people collectively, 41 per cent of the global total. In the Philippines, almost two million were left homeless by typhoons and floods. In Russia and Spain, floods and forest fires forced people out of their homes.

Many of those displaced have gone through the cycle repeatedly — they have lost homes and moved multiple times. Most stay in their own countries, moving from villages to towns, and from towns to big cities.

The risk of displacement is only going to rise, the report predicts. Similar concerns were raised in October, when a Red Cross report said the number of displaced people will likely go up as climate change helps drive forced migration.

Though more people are surviving disasters due to better warning, “more are becoming displaced; increasing numbers are exposed and vulnerable; climate change is projected to influence the frequency and intensity of weather extremes over the coming decades,” this week’s report says.

Rich countries, including the U.S., weren’t spared in 2012. Superstorm Sandy displaced more than 775,000; tens of thousands fled their homes to escape forest fires.

“The world’s population is not only increasing but it is increasingly in the way of weather,” said Warren Mabee, the director of the Institute for Energy and Environmental Policy at Queen’s University.

The five countries with the most displaced people in 2012 — China, India, Pakistan, Philippines and Nigeria — are countries with exploding populations, he says.

“These are heavily, heavily populated countries,” Mabee said. “There aren’t unspoiled stretches of land . . . like the Canadian Prairies where disruptions will impact few.”

While the report says governments need to do more to “prevent and prepare” for disaster-induced displacement, Mabee says there is too much reliance on the United Nations for relief.

“We need to explore other ways of delivering aid,” he said. “Maybe help with knowledge programs so we are more robust and resilient. It is a worldwide problem.”

Despite what some people in the West think, most of those displaced aren’t looking to move to the U.S. or Canada, said Audrey Macklin, a University of Toronto professor specializing in international human rights and immigration.

“They just want to stay where they are, in their countries, but have clean drinking water or a safe place to live,” she said. “Most people’s first choice isn’t to leave.”

Original Article
Source: thestar.com
Author: Raveena Aulakh