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5/17/2013
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» Extreme Weather Drove More Than 30 Million People from Their Homes in 2012
Extreme Weather Drove More Than 30 Million People from Their Homes in 2012
In case you weren't sure what climate change looks like, here's a preview: It looks like millions of people displaced from their homes due to flooding. For example, in 2012, when 32.4 million people had to leave their homes due to disaster, the majority of whom were displaced by flooding from monsoons and typhoons in Asia.
The Norwegian Refugee Council operates the Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre, the focus of which is to track how and where such displacement occurs. Its estimates for 2012, released today, indicates that the year's total comprises 22 percent of displacements since 2008. Sixty-eight percent of the displacement was as the result of what the IDMC calls a "mega event" — an event that displaces at least a million people. Ninety-eight percent of all displacement was due to climate- or weather-related events.
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