Asia is most climate disaster-impacted region, UN meteorological agency says

GENEVA (Reuters) - Asia was the world's most disaster-hit region by climate related hazards last year, the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) said, with floods and storms causing the highest number of casualties.

In a report published on Tuesday, WMO said that 79 disasters linked to hydro-meteorological events had been reported in Asia in 2023. More than 80% of these were related to floods and storms that caused more than 2,000 deaths.

"Many countries in the region experienced their hottest year on record in 2023, along with a barrage of extreme conditions, from droughts and heatwaves to floods and storms," said WMO Secretary-General Celeste Saulo.

"Climate change exacerbated the frequency and severity of such events."

Asia is warming faster than the global average, according to WMO. Last year, high average temperatures were recorded from western Siberia to central Asia, as well as from eastern China to Japan.

The report also highlighted that most glaciers in the high-mountain region in Asia had loss significant mass because of record-breaking high temperatures and dry conditions.

(Reporting by Gabrielle Tétrault-Farber; Editing by Muralikumar Anantharaman)