Climate: only 19 days without extreme events in India since the start of 2024

On the eve of COP29 in Baku, the Indian Climate Report 2024 was released. In the first nine months of the year, as many as 3,238 people lost their lives in the country due to floods, landslides, and heat waves, up 18 per cent. Madhya Pradesh had the highest number of days of extreme weather, while Kerala had the most deaths.

Delhi (AsiaNews/Agencies) – The Indian Climate Report 2024 was released yesterday on the eve of COP29, the 2024 United Nations Climate Change Conference, or Conference of the Parties, the UN world conference on climate change, set to open on Monday in Baku, Azerbaijan.

Published by the New Delhi-based Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) and posted on the Down To Earth magazine website, it shows that India had only 19 days out of 274 without extreme weather events in the first nine months of 2024.

The data cover seven extreme weather events: lightning and storms; heavy rains, floods and landslides; heat waves; cold waves and cold days; cloudbursts; cyclones and snowfall.

As many as 3,238 people lost their lives due to such events this year, compared to 2,755 in the same period in 2022, an increase of 18 per cent.

As a result, more and more cropland is being affected: 3.2 million hectares, up by 74 per cent compared to the 1.84 million hectares in 2022. In addition, 235,862 houses and buildings were destroyed and about 9,457 head of cattle were killed.

For India, 2024 was an extreme year, with record-breaking temperatures or rainfall almost every month.

“This frequency is overwhelming the most vulnerable populations, who lack the resources to adapt to this relentless cycle of loss and damage,” said CSE Director-General Sunita Narain

Among India’s states and territories, Madhya Pradesh recorded the highest number of days with extreme weather conditions (176).

“Kerala recorded the highest fatalities at 550, followed by Madhya Pradesh (353) and Assam (256),” noted the report’s authors at a press statement presenting their analysis.

The largest affected crop area (over 60 per cent) was in Maharashtra, and the largest number of houses damaged due to extreme weather events was in Andhra Pradesh.

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