According to a report released by Germanwatch, Vietnam is among four countries suffering the most from extreme climate phenomena in the last two decades and is ranked third in 2008.

According to Germanwatch, the ten top countries suffering from natural calamities are: Bangladesh, Myanmar, Honduras, Vietnam, Nicaragua, Haiti, India, Dominica Republic, the Philíppines and China. All of them have low per capita income. From 1990 to 2008, up to 11,000 storms, floods and droughts reported in these countries, killed nearly 600,000 people and caused the loss of $1.7 trillion. In Vietnam, natural disasters killed 466 people and caused losses of $1.5 billion a year on average.

The report was released at a seminar at the 15^th UN conference on climate change in Denmark. Speaking at the seminar, the report’s author Sven Hameling warned: “Extreme climate phenomena have become increasing threats to the life and economic development of countries in the world”.

Germanwatch is an organization which focuses on development and climate. It publishes a yearly report on global climate risks based of analysis of data on losses caused by natural disasters.

Germanwatch manager Christoph Bals said that the report is there to remind developed countries to assist those that suffer from climate change.

VietNamNet/KT&DT