Environmental News Network - Extreme Weather Displaced 7 Million People in First Half of 2019

Details: By Yale Environment 360; 12.Sep

Natural disasters forced a record 7 million people to be displaced in the first half of this year, accounting for nearly two-thirds of all the internal displacements worldwide, according to a new report from the Internal Displacement Monitoring Center (IDMC).

Julie Swatson

Natural disasters forced a record 7 million people to be displaced in the first half of this year, accounting for nearly two-thirds of all the internal displacements worldwide, according to a new report from the Internal Displacement Monitoring Center (IDMC). The organization estimated this number could hit 22 million by the end of 2019, which would be among the highest ever recorded.

“In today’s changing climate, mass displacement triggered by extreme weather events is becoming the norm,” the report said.

The vast majority of displacement so far has been associated with storms and floods. Cyclone Fani in May displaced more than 3.4 million people in India and Bangladesh. In March, Cyclone Idai devastated Mozambique before moving across Malawi and Zimbabwe, displacing 617,000 people. Flooding in Iran affected 90 percent of the country and triggered more than a half-million displacements. In total, 7 million people were displaced by 950 extreme weather events in 102 countries and territories from January to June.

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Extreme Weather Displaced 7 Million People in First Half of 2019