By Simon Gardner
COLOMBO, Aug 8 (Reuters) -
Climate change threatens to bring
further flooding, droughts, fires and landslides and the world must
invest now to mitigate damage from natural disasters, the UN's top aid
official said on Wednesday.
With tens of millions of people displaced in India and
Bangladesh after severe flooding, nations should examine ways to
protect vulnerable populations, John Holmes, UN Under Secretary General
for Humanitarian Affairs said in an interview.
"It's the worst we've seen for 50, 60, 70 years and we're
beginning to see a pattern of flooding around the world," Holmes told
Reuters during a visit to war-torn Sri Lanka. "There is an enormous
problem because climate change is a reality already... We need to
anticipate it and not just respond to it."
"Floods, droughts, fires, landslides, these are already
happening in larger numbers than ever before, and I think the link with
climate change is well proven."
Sri Lanka has escaped the floodwaters choking its South Asian
neighbours, but is grappling with its own aid problems. Renewed civil
war between the state and Tamil Tiger rebels is hindering delivery of
aid to tens of thousands displaced by the conflict and 2004 tsunami.
The latest bout of monsoon flooding in India, which began
about three weeks ago, is said to be the worst in living memory in
parts of the impoverished state of Bihar, where around 10 million
people have been affected alone.
About 545 people have been killed in the floods, mostly by
drowning, disease and snakebites. More than 50,000 people are suffering
from diarrhoea in the flood-hit districts of Bangladesh, authorities
said.
The United Nations is encouraging governments to set up
disaster management authorities as well as education campaigns to
ensure measures are in place for future disasters.
"I think if you invest in disaster risk reduction, and what
that means is not building on flood plains, having shelters for people
to go to, recognising the problems before they happen and anticipating
them, that investment is one of the best investments you can make," he
added.
Holmes fears that climate change-related natural disasters
will pile increasing pressure on a world already short of funding to
cope with existing humanitarian disasters.
"I think there will be a problem in the future about the scale
of the resources," he said. "We never have enough money for the
humanitarian crises we have already."
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