limate change will trigger major natural disasters in future and the authorities should gear up to deal with them, experts said at the Second World Congress on Disaster Management.
On the second day of the conference being held here on Friday, Sudeshna Chatterjee, CEO, ACE (Action for Children’s Environments), said: “Climate change will influence global warming and this will increase the frequency of natural disasters such as typhoons, cyclones, river floods and drought. And India being a country with a long coastline of over 7,500 km and with a number of rivers, people will be affected by cyclones and river floods and children will be worst affected.”
According to Lars Bernd of UNICEF, by 2020, 175 million children across the globe are likely to be affected by climate change every year. “In the 1990s the effect of climate change on children was about 66.5 million per year,” he said.
In any disaster, children are the most vulnerable community. “In the last five years some 8.45 million children were affected due to various disasters in India and 3.25 million pregnant and lactating mothers were at the receiving end between 2000 and 2009,” said Mr. Bernd.
According to him, in the 2015 Nepal earthquake, 2 million children were affected and 7,000 schools were destroyed. In 2013 Phailin cyclone, 5,825 schools were destroyed in Odisha and in 2013 Uttarkhand earthquake 128 ICDS establishment were razed to the ground.
Mr. Bernd pointed out that children not only suffer during the disaster, but also post disaster.
“Post disaster, they suffer from diseases such as dengue and malaria and all kinds of vector borne diseases. Many children get separated and are prone to violence and trafficking,” he added.
Malnutrition
“Climate change will result in malnutrition among children and it is estimated that stunting among children will go up to 35 per cent.
The spread of various vector-borne diseases will even spread to cooler climes,” he said.
Ms. Sudeshna pointed out that there was a nexus among climate change- poverty and children.
“The authorities concerned should work on building resilience among children and involve children as risk communicators and agents of change,” she said.
According to her, the most vulnerable sections among the children are street children, migrant and child labour force and children with disability.
Kamal Kishore of National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA), Ashish Kumar Singh of SAARC- Disaster Management Committee and Ray Kancharla of Save the Children India, echoed their opinion.
In another plenary session, Anju Sharma of Gujarat State Disaster Management Authority, Harjit Singh of Action Aid, N. Yuvaraj, District Collector, Amit Garg Commissioner of Police and Amita Singh of JNU spoke on global and national approaches to DRR.
By 2020, 175 million children across the globe are likely to be affected by climate change every year
— Lars Bernd of UNICEF
