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World Bank says natural disasters damage infrastructure costing developing countries $ 18 billion a year
Floods, storms and other natural disasters, made more likely by climate change, cost hundreds of billions of dollars every year for poor countries due to the deterioration of their infrastructure, the World Bank said Wednesday.
The global lender said that power and water cuts as well as weather-related traffic disruptions aggravated by mismanagement and maintenance of bridges, roads and power grids cost $ 390 billion. dollars (350 billion euros) per year to low- and middle-income countries.
Two thirds of humanity is expected to reside in cities by 2050, compared to 55% today.
Most of the plumbing, electricity and health infrastructure needed for their maintenance is yet to be built, and investors are increasingly prioritizing projects that can withstand future climate shocks.
The World Bank has stated that investing in more robust infrastructure would have cost developing countries as much as $ 4.2 trillion in the long run.
"We do not measure the pain and suffering resulting from natural disasters that destroy people's lives and livelihoods," World Bank CEO Kristalina Georgieva told AFP.
"We are looking at the price of the solution, what would it take to have an infrastructure … built to be better and more resilient?
"Countries will save a great deal in the future if they act responsibly today," she added.
The World Bank said power cuts and disruption of transportation networks caused by severe weather alone cost developing countries about $ 18 billion a year.
Losses are concentrated in Africa and South East Asia, where urban population growth and wet weather conditions are a growing challenge for infrastructure.
In China alone, 64 million people depend on sewage treatment facilities threatened by earthquakes and landslides and 200 million depend on treatment facilities "that will be exposed to increasing risks of flood due to climate change, "said the bank.
Tanzanian businesses lose an average of $ 668 million a year, equivalent to 1.8% of GDP, power and water cuts, and transportation disruptions.
And in Kampala, Uganda 's capital, even moderate floods can prevent a third of the 1.5 million residents of the city from accessing a hospital in an emergency.
World Bank pledges $ 200 billion in 2021-2025 in climate cash
© 2019 AFP
Quote:
Crumbling roads and networks cost the poor nations billions of dollars in storms: World Bank (20 June 2019)
recovered on June 20, 2019
from https://phys.org/news/2019-06-crumbling-roads-grids-poor-nations.html
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