UN Chief calls for reduction in disaster risk

It’s time to get serious about keeping ambitions high on climate action and on building resilience. So says the Secretary General of the United Nations in expressing the organisation’s solidarity, after devastating weather events led to extreme flooding in the United States, Nepal, India and Bangladesh in recent weeks.

---

The remarks by Antonito Gutteres come as a category 5 hurricane named Irma is barreling towards islands in the Caribbean including the US territory of Puerto Rico, with an additional tropical storm named Jose already formed in the Atlantic that could potentially follow the same path.

Hurricane Irma is currently packing winds of up to 280km per hour and could potentially reach the United States Mainland in the state of Florida by the end of the weekend.

UN Chief Antonio Guterres warning that we continue to see climate change gathering force.

“It is true that scientists caution us about linking any single weather event with climate change but they are equally clear that such extreme weather is precisely what their models predict will be the new normal of a warming world. With science forecasting a dramatic rise in both the frequency and severity of disasters, it’s time to get serious about keeping ambitions high on climate action and on building resilience and on reducing disaster risk,” says Guterres.

Recovery operations continue in the states Texas and Louisiana that bore the onslaught of Hurricane Harvey, a category 4 when it made landfall on August 25th claiming more than 60 lives and causing damage estimated at almost 200 billion dollars.

In Harvey’s wake, a Category 5 named Irma and behind that heading in a similar direction is tropical storm Jose that could pick up strength as it traverses the warmer waters in the Caribbean.

“The UN stands ready to support relief efforts in any way possible but the number of natural disasters has nearly quadrupled since 1970. The United States followed by China and India have experienced the most disasters since 1995 and last year alone 24.2 million people were displaced by sudden onset disasters, three times as many as by conflict and violence. And even before the current floods, preliminary reports for this year show that there have 2087 deaths from natural disasters,” says Guterres.

We all have to keep a close watch on it. If you follow the track, we can’t tell exactly where the track is
The State of Florida has already declared a state of emergency.

The Governor there Rick Scott says, “We all have to keep a close watch on it. If you follow the track, we can’t tell exactly where the track is. Some people think it might go up the East Coast. Some people think it going right in the middle of the state. Some people think it’s going to be on the West Coast. Today, I’ve had phone calls with sheriffs, police chiefs. We started this weekend with calls with all the counties. We’ve already had conference calls with the superintendent talked to the Corps of Engineers. I mean, have to watch it very closely.”

Irma is already among the top 5 strongest storm ever observed in the Atlantic and the National Hurricane Center warns it’s ideal for further intensification.

“Florida is known for preparing and doing a great job with disasters. We have no idea what’s in store. We have to pray for the best. You know, the hope would be that this thing would dissipate and just go out into the Atlantic. But, we’ve got to prepare for the worst,” says Scott.

In June this year, President Donald Trump withdrew the United States from the Paris Climate Change Agreement arguing that it was very unfair, at the highest level, to the United States.

 Original source: SABC News.
Posted on 6 September 2017.