There are certain regions that are very vulnerable to the risk of flooding around the world. This infographic maps flood risk in different regions and highlights that 1.81 million people are directly exposed to 1-in-100 year floods. The procedure gives explanation of the possible risks from both inland and coastal flooding.
5 Asian and Southeast Asian countries at risk from rising levels of water:
Some of the factors that put any country to greater risk of
flooding are river systems, extensive coastlines and flatlands. Bangladesh and Netherlands
are the only two countries in the whole world whose more than half population is
at risk due to flooding. The risk percentage recorded is 58% and 59%
respectively. Next on the list are Vietnam with 46% risk, Egypt having 41% of
risk and Myanmar is at 40% of risk from floods. Other than Netherlands, there
are only two other countries of Europe that lie in the list of top 20 countries
by percentage of population at risk, Austria on 18th rank with 29%
of risk and Albania being on 2oth position with 28% of risk. Southeast Asia is
the region that is alone responsible to make up more than two-thirds of the
global population exposed to flooding risk, the population of this region being
1.24 billion. Countries with highest population in the world that are China and
India account for 395 million and 390 million at risk respectively. The other
countries in the list of top 5 countries by population at risk are Bangladesh having
94 million people at risk, Indonesia accounts for 76 million people and Pakistan
has 72 million people who are at risk of flooding.
Effect of flooding on countries like Pakistan:
The recent summer floods in Pakistan have been in
highlights, with 31% population (72 million people) at risk out of total, Pakistan
has particularly been vulnerable to floods. The floods in 2010 affected more
than 18 million people as estimated. The floods in 2022 that started in June, have
estimated to affect more than 33 million people and more than one-third of the
country is submerged underwater.
The floods across different countries bring massive economy
loss worldwide. The droughts, floods, and storms in the last year caused
economic losses totaling $224.2 billion worldwide, nearly doubling the
2001-2020 annual average of $117.8 billion. According to calculations in a
recent report the water risk (caused by droughts, floods, and storms) could eat
up $5.6 trillion of global GDP by 2050, with floods projected to account for
36% of these direct losses. It is a loss for the economies and the human race
both, so it’s very necessary for the nations around the world to focus on
restorative solutions and take preventative measures for ecosystems and
communities that are already affected.
Infographic by: visualcapitalist
