Japan & Germany among top countries suffering most under severe weather conditions

As the Earth's average temperature keeps rising and climate-change-related disasters become more frequent, countries and people all across the world suffer under this phenomenon. But according to reports, 2018 was a particularly hard year for Japan, Philippines and Germany. All three countries experienced extreme weather conditions that inflicted casualties and financial losses.

The countries most affected

According to the United Nations climate conference, these three countries were the hardest hit by extreme weather caused by climate change. The worst-hit was Japan. Over a 1,000 people died in Japan due to extreme rainfall, heatwaves and typhoons last year. The financial damage caused by these disasters totalled $35 billion and also resulted in the reduction of the country's GDP by 0.6%.

Over the course of 2018, Japan experienced three separate severe weather events. Heavy rainfall which caused floods and landslides in July, an unusually severe heatwave just a few weeks later and then in September, Typhoon Jebi was announced to be the strongest typhoon to strike Japan in 25 years.

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The Philippines also suffered greatly in 2018. Typhoon Mangkhut in September was the strongest storm recorded in 2018. The typhoon caused landslides.

The third most affected country in 2018 due to extreme changes in weather was Germany. According to reports, Germany in 2018 suffered from extreme heat and drought. Germany also experienced crop losses. According to reports from the German government, the air temperature of Germany has increased by 1.5 degrees since 1881 and the temperature has risen 0.3 degrees in the last five years alone.

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While industrialized countries like Japan and Germany are being affected, by comparison, it is poorer countries in the world that are at much greater risk and are more sensitive to environmental changes. According to the long-term index compiled by Munich Re database, seven out of the ten most affected countries are developing countries. 

(with inputs from agencies)