ISTANBUL, Dec 17 (AA/APP): More than 1,700 people have died and over a million have been displaced across Asia in recent weeks as floods and landslides swept through densely populated cities, river basins and deforested slopes. Experts warn that the scale of destruction signals a future in which extreme weather becomes more frequent amid a warming climate.
Indonesia and Sri Lanka endured the heaviest losses, with entire districts inundated, transport links severed and economic damage running into billions of dollars. Hundreds remain missing.
Weak early warning systems, aging or unsuitable infrastructure, unchecked urban expansion and the clearing of natural buffers have compounded the fallout, experts told Anadolu.
The Asia-Pacific region, World Meteorological Organization Secretary-General Celeste Saulo said, faces the world’s most intense and frequent cyclone activity, with “record-breaking rainfall, storm surges and floods” that repeatedly displace millions and cause massive economic damage.
Of the more than 1,700 reported deaths in the recent floods, around 836 were recorded in Indonesia and over 600 in Sri Lanka. On Sumatra Island alone, flooding is estimated to have caused more than $4 billion in damage, while Sri Lanka has sought $200 million in emergency assistance from the International Monetary Fund to address the losses.