Severe Floods in Asia: Over 1,400 Lives Lost Amid Climate Change Warnings
Severe flooding and landslides in Indonesia and Sri Lanka have resulted in the deaths of more than 1,400 individuals, raising concerns among scientists about the influence of climate change on the severity of weather events.
In recent weeks, two tropical storms have impacted the region, bringing heavy rainfall that has led to widespread flooding and landslides.
Floods have claimed the lives of over 600 people in Sri Lanka and approximately 1,000 in Indonesia, with thousands more injured and hundreds reported missing.
An international team of scientists conducted a rapid assessment to investigate the causes of the disaster, identifying significant factors such as heavy rainfall and rising sea temperatures linked to climate change, along with seasonal weather phenomena like "El Niño" and the Indian Ocean dipole.
Maryam Zakaria, a researcher at Imperial College London and co-author of the study, stated, "Climate change is a key factor, at least in the increase of extreme precipitation we are witnessing," noting that scientific models have not yet accurately determined the full extent of climate change's impact due to the complexity of local and seasonal phenomena.
However, the study indicated that climate change has intensified rainfall in the region over recent decades and contributed to rising sea surface temperatures, which could heighten storm intensity in the future.
Zakaria added, "In the Strait of Malacca between Malaysia and Indonesia, maximum rainfall amounts have increased by 9 to 50% due to climate change, while in Sri Lanka, heavy rainfall events have intensified by 28 to 160%."
The contributing factors extend beyond climate change to include deforestation and geography, which directs rainfall towards densely populated areas, compounded by the coincidence of rainfall with local wind seasons, amplifying the disaster's impact, which scientists describe as "nearly unprecedented."
Experts warn that human activities driving climate change will make extreme weather events more frequent, intense, and destructive, necessitating urgent preparations to address future disasters.
