Philippines rockets up list of countries most vulnerable to disaster

A new disaster risk report, the Global Climate Risk Index 2014 released by Germanwatch during the COP19 climate talks, highlights the problem of accurately predicting impact of extreme weather events such as typhoon Haiyan, reports the Guardian.

According to UNISDR's Jerry Velasquez, fewer people are dying worldwide because of climate-related disasters, but far more are exposed than a decade ago, and the economic impact is soaring. "Losses amounted to more than $1.75tn in original values," he said, according to the news report.

Germanwatch told the Guardian, "In relative terms, poorer developing countries are hit much harder despite the fact that the absolute monetary damages are much higher in richer countries. Loss of life and personal hardship is also much more widespread especially in low-income countries."