"Unless we act now, we will see more and more disasters due to unplanned urbanization and environmental degradation," said the UN’s Assistant Secretary-General for Disaster Risk Reduction, Margareta Wahlström, according to Europa Press.

“And weather-related disasters are sure to rise in the future, due to factors that include climate change," she added.

More than 296,800 people died in 2010 due to 373 natural disasters. The economic costs of these events add up to 109 billion dollars (figure three times higher than in 2009). These numbers include the earthquake that hit the capital city of Haiti, Port-au-Prince on January 12, 2010, that killed more than 220,000 people. This was the largest catastrophe of the year.

According to the UN Center for Research on the Epidemiology of Disasters, the earthquake that took place in Chile in February was considered the most expensive natural catastrophe, costing 30 billion dollars. Then, in April, another earthquake killed almost 3,000 people in China.

But there are other natural disasters that are consequence, at least to some extent, of global climate change. Approximately 2,000 people died in Pakistan due to floods. A heat wave in Russia last summer killed 56,000 people in a direct way. After Haiti, this was the second catastrophe where most people died.

It is estimated that around 207 million people were affected globally by natural disasters such as floods, landslides and earthquakes.

UN Bolivian ambassador, Pablo Solon, said on December 8th in Cancun at the 16th Conference of the Parties to the UN Climate Convention, that “each year, as a result of climate change and the natural disasters it causes, 300,000 people die”. The UN Convention didn’t approve binding reductions for Northern countries, the main responsible for the climate crisis.

This year didn’t start well. Heavy rains and subsequent landslides in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, have killed almost 850 people, according to Prensa Latina. Almost half of them in Nova Friburgo municipality.

Also, Rio de Janeiro authorities have released a list of 518 missing people. The national government has spent around 695 million dollars to help the victims and repair the damage caused by the landslides. This is the worst natural catastrophe in the history of Brazil.

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