25% more people exposed to floods globally in last 20 years: Study

NEW DELHI: In the last 20 years, the number of people who have witnessed floods worldwide has increased by almost a quarter, as concluded by a study published in Nature journal. 86 million now live in flood-prone areas. 

Due to the exponential rate of climate change, rainfall patterns have changed. Experts have noticed that the amount of rainfall has increased but the number of rainy days has decreased. This trend has led to a surge in the number of floods around the world, especially in India, China, Germany, and Belgium. 

Recently, researchers studying the satellite data have compiled the Global Flood Database that gives a clear picture of the death toll, displacement, and rainfall levels of the area. 

Researchers also noted that between 2000-2015, over 86 million people have moved to a flood-prone region due to economic crunch. 

Estimates suggest that the changing weather patterns have additionally put 25 countries at a high risk of flooding by 2030. 

Beth Tellman, the lead author of the study, said that now the risk of flooding was 10 times higher than previous estimates. A majority of flood-prone countries were earlier located in South and Southeast Asia. However, satellite data suggests that regions in Latin America and the Middle East are also facing higher chances of flooding.