U.N. official says global 90% natural disasters are climate-related this year

Copenhagen, December 14 (Xinhua) The United Nations Assistant Secretary-General for Disaster Reduction Margarita Wallstrom 14th in Copenhagen that the number of natural disasters related to climate is steadily rising, with 91.4% of the natural disasters already occurring this year linked to climate. In the first 11 months of this year, a total of 245 natural disasters, of which 224 were related to the climate, were reported to have occurred, Wahlstrom said at a news conference.　　These climatic disasters affect 55 million people all over the world, resulting in 15 billion of billions of dollars in economic losses.　　She said that as a result of the progress of disaster prediction techniques and means of prevention, the number of casualties and economic losses caused by natural disasters in 2009 years had decreased compared with previous years, but the amount of climate disasters continued to be the first in all types of natural disasters, and the trend was rising steadily with climate change. According to the Centre for Disaster Epidemiology Research in Belgium, Asia and Africa are the areas most affected by climate disasters. Storms and floods have hit Asia many times this year, affecting tens of millions of of people, while Africa suffers from drought and many face water shortages.