South Asia is extremely vulnerable to natural disasters, and a significant portion is exposed to more than one type of hazard. Between 1990 and 2008, more than 750 million people—50% of South Asia’s population—were affected by at least one type of disaster, resulting in almost 230,000 deaths and about $45 billion in damages.
Aside from floods, which have accounted for over 50% of the more than 900 disaster events reported in the region in the last 4 decades, disasters frequenting the region include landslides, windstorms, sea surges, and cyclones. Although comprising only 2% of the total number of events, droughts hit the most number of people—more than 50% of the total disaster-affected population.
Bangladesh and Nepal experienced the highest number of disaster events. But due to its infrastructure density, India had the biggest share of damages —$26 billion or over 50% of total damages for the region.
The probability of climate-related disasters will rise with changes in precipitation patterns and temperature increase. Droughts are projected to be more intense and prolonged in the arid and semiarid areas of India and Bangladesh, while landslides and glacial lake outburst floods will be more frequent in the mountain regions of Bhutan and Nepal.
