GENEVA: The World Meteorological Organization urged action to close gaps in a global system of surveillance meant to protect people from extreme weather, saying on Monday that such early warnings were particularly needed in developing countries.
Convening a special meeting in Geneva, the WMO said that in the past five decades, weather, water and climate-related hazards have killed more than 2 million people, with 90 percent of those deaths occurring in developing countries.
WMO Secretary-General Celeste Saulo has made boosting early-warning systems a priority but still only 55 percent of countries have built up the surveillance capacity, data from the UN weather agency shows.
“Many millions of people lack protection against dangerous weather which is inflicting an increasing toll on economic assets and vital infrastructure,” the WMO said in a statement.
The number of countries using early-warning systems has doubled in three years to 119. But a WMO assessment of 62 countries showed half of them possess only basic capacity and 16 percent have less than basic capacity.
