World Bank experts, in collaboration with scientists from Switzerland, Greece and Germany, assessed the pace of housing development in flood-prone areas. The study was published in the scientific journal magazine Nature.
The report analyzed flood maps as well as 30 years of satellite imagery tracking the expansion of human settlements around the world. According to the report, residential growth in flood zones since 1985 has significantly outpaced construction in safe areas.
Experts concluded that as of 2015, 20% of all settlements on Earth were in areas at moderate to high flood risk, compared to 17.9% 30 years ago.
Although the percentage increase may seem insignificant, we are actually talking about a huge area of approximately 76.4 thousand square kilometers, that is, 48 times the surface area of London. These areas are now subject to flooding as the water level rises by more than half a metre.
East Asia and the Pacific are among the most vulnerable regions, particularly driven by urban expansion in China as well as Vietnam and Bangladesh.
Climate change increases the risk of devastating floods as a warmer atmosphere holds more moisture, potentially making rainfall more powerful. This means floods, once thought to occur once every hundred years or less, are now becoming more frequent, the report’s authors said.
Previous scientists I learnedIt is stated that floods increase the risk of premature death.