A surge of the coronavirus made it difficult for the authorities to tackle disasters caused by extreme weather events that could result from climate change, with almost 140 million people affected in severe storms, floods and heatwaves worldwide, an aid agency said.
Nearly half of these people live in Asia-Pacific countries, the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies said in a report this week.
“Recovery from disasters is so much harder when livelihoods have been hit hard by COVID-19 and the measures taken to contain it,”Maarten Van Aalst
‘The recovery from disasters is so much harder when it’ s been hit very hard by Covid-19 and the measures that are in place to reduce it,’ said Maarten Van Aalst, Red Cross climate centre director and author of the report.
One example of the extra strain Covid-19 imposes on those responding to disasters was the need for some form of shelter in emergencies caused by storms, the Red Cross said in the report.
