The Hindu : Front Page : U.N. warns of climatic disasters

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Sunday, Feb 10, 2008
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U.N. warns of climatic disasters

GENEVA: The recent snowstorms in China have signalled that “freak weather” is becoming increasingly more common, a United Nations body that seeks to mitigate the impact of natural disasters has warned.

The unprecedented scale, cost, and human impacts of China’s snowstorms, its worst in 50 years, herald a need for the world to get ready for “new kinds of disasters,” said the Geneva-based International Strategy for Disaster Reduction (ISDR).

“So-called ‘freak weather’ is becoming more common, and reducing vulnerability to these unexpected extremes must be a top priority for governments,” the agency said in a statement.

The ISDR emphasised the growing importance of ensuring that infrastructure can withstand weather that was previously unthinkable.

The agency also praised the Chinese government’s rapid activation of emergency plans to respond to the needs of over 100 million of its citizens. “Governments across the world can learn from the Chinese government’s commitment. Governments should also learn from the shock of new types of disasters, and need to start examining how to best adapt to unpredictable, ‘freak’ conditions that may sadly become all too normal,” it said. — Xinhua

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