Over the period 1991-2005, 3,470 million people
were affected by disasters, 960,000 people died,
and economic losses were US$ 1,193 billion13. Poor countries are disproportionately affected, owing to intrinsic vulnerabilities to hazards and comparatively low capacities for risk reduction measures. Small countries are also particularly vulnerable - Grenada’s losses of 919 US$ million as a result of Hurricane Ivan in 2004 were equal to 2.5 times its GDP. Over the last two decades (1988-2007), 76% of all disaster events were hydrological, meteorological or climatological
in nature; these accounted for 45% of the deaths and 79% of the economic losses caused by natural hazards. The likelihood of increased weather extremes in future therefore gives great concern that the number or scale of weather-related disasters will also increase. There is already evidence of increases in extreme conditions for some weather elements in some regions. The IPCC conclusions on changes in extreme conditions relevant disaster occurrence are as follows:14
to