UN warns of pending climate change 'megadisaster'

From correspondents in Geneva, SwitzerlandAgence France-PresseJune 17, 2009 07:28am

-Disasters to get more intense
-Climate change to blame
-Tokyo, Mumbai, Mexico most at risk

SOME of the world's biggest cities are at growing risk of "megadisasters", the UN's humanitarian chief said today, warning that climate change was behind a rising number of natural catastrophes.

"We are going to see more disasters and more intense disasters as a result of climate change," said UN Under Secretary General for Humanitarian Affairs John Holmes.

"The trends in disasters particularly from climate change are of enormous concern. We can only expect that this trend is going to continue," he said on the sidelines of a conference on reducing disaster risks.

Some 90 per cent of disasters are of climatic origin, caused by storms, floods, drought or other extreme weather conditions, according to the UN's weather agency.

Mr Holmes said some of the world's biggest cities housing millions of people were highly exposed to disasters, being located in coastal areas that would be threatened by rising sea levels, or in earthquake zones.

"The risks of megadisasters in some of these megacities are rising all the time," Mr Holmes warned, predicting a lot more deaths in future natural disasters.

Megacities include Tokyo, with a population of more than 35 million, and Mumbai, New Delhi, Mexico City and Sao Paulo with more than 20 million inhabitants each.

http://www.news.com.au/story/0,27574,25649012-401,00.html?referrer=email...