From Sri Lanka to Indonesia, November delivered relentless weather disasters. GermanWatch warns that unprecedented climate extremes now endanger billions, driven largely by accelerating human-caused global warming.
By Salam Rajesh
November month this year saw extreme weather events striking left and right hooks in several Asian countries – Sri Lanka, India, Taiwan, Philippines, Indonesia, Thailand – ravaging the countryside with force. Damaging floods, mud flows, landslides, sea surges – all came with the strong winds and rains.
The message from the Skies is quite clear: Nature’s fury had been unleashed unrestrained in a world that had brought misery upon itself. Human-induced climate change is largely attributed to a fast changing scenario of extreme climate and weather events all across the globe.
For the records, around 40 percent of people worldwide, approximately three billion heads in count, currently live in eleven countries that have been most severely affected by extreme weather events – heat waves, storms, and floods over these past 30 years, says a new edition of the Climate Risk Index 2026 released by the environmental and development organization GermanWatch.
In sync with the climate conference at Belém in Brazil last month, the GermanWatch assessment noted that countries like Dominica, Myanmar and Honduras were constantly affected by extreme weather events over the past 30 years.
Almost all countries in the top group of the ranking are located in the Global South, while only five EU countries and the United States appear among the top 30 countries affected. India (ranked 9th), China (11th), Libya (4th), Haiti (5th) and the Philippines (7th) feature prominently in the top 30 list, and none of the top eleven countries are among the rich industrialized nations.
At the same time, EU countries and industrialized nations like France (ranked 12th), Italy (16th), and the USA (18th) are among the 30 countries most affected by extreme weather events. These are key findings of the Climate Risk Index 2026 (CRI 2026) presented by GermanWatch at Belém.
The CRI 2026 recorded over 9700 extreme weather events between 1995 and 2024, with more than 830,000 fatalities and over USD 4.5 trillion in direct damage over 30 years.
CRI author Laura Schäfer noted that heat waves and storms posed the greatest threat to human life when it comes to extreme weather events. Storms also caused by far the greatest monetary damage, while floods were responsible for the greatest number of people affected by extreme weather, she added.
Last week, and this week, Sri Lanka and southern India was bashed by Cyclone Ditwah, Taiwan and Hong Kong was devastated by Super Typhoon Ragasa, Vietnam struck by Typhoon Bualoi and Typhoon Kajiki, while Thailand and the Philippines were battered by Typhoon Kalmaegi and Super Typhoon Fung-wong.
Vera Künzel, co-author of the index, explained that countries like Haiti, Philippines and India – all of which are among the ten most affected countries indicated in the CRI – face particular challenges. They are hit by floods, heat waves, or storms so regularly that entire regions can hardly recover from the impacts until the next event hit.
Some countries ranking very high in the index suffered mainly from individual, yet extremely devastating weather events, while others were repeatedly hit by extreme weather, the CRI observed.
Without more long-term support – including for adapting to the climate crisis – these countries will continue to face insurmountable challenges in the coming years, Vera added.
At the top of the index for the period 1995 up to 2024 is Dominica, a very small Caribbean island nation that has been hit by devastating hurricanes several times. In 2017, Hurricane Maria alone caused damage amounting to USD 1.8 billion – almost three times the country’s gross domestic product (GDP). It was the most destructive of seven tropical cyclones in 30 years.
Lina Adil, another co-author of the index says, “Dominica is at the top of our long-term index mainly because of the enormous economic damage in relation to its GDP. This clearly underscores the scientifically confirmed trend that in a warmer world, tropical cyclones are becoming more intense and more destructive”.
Yet another example is Myanmar, which ranks second in the CRI list. In 2008, Cyclone Nargis killed nearly 140,000 people and caused USD 5.8 billion in damage in that country. Massive rainfall and subsequent flooding had the most devastating effects, the CRI noted.
The CRI 2026 indicated that countries in the Global South are particularly vulnerable and need support from wealthy nations. However, these wealthy nations are also increasingly being affected by the impacts of the climate crisis.
David Eckstein, co-author of the CRI, is being critical when he says that, “The results of the CRI 2026 clearly demonstrate that the world must find effective ways to close the global ambition gap. Global emissions have to be reduced immediately, otherwise, there is risk of rising number of deaths and economic disaster worldwide. At the same time, adaptation efforts must be accelerated. Effective solutions for loss and damage must be implemented, and adequate climate finance must be provided”.
The Climate Risk Index 2026 conducted an individual assessment of the past year. The Caribbean archipelago of St. Vincent and the Grenadines and Grenada, which were devastated by a Category-5 hurricane in the summer of 2024, ranked first and second on the list. Chad followed in third place, having been hit by devastating floods that lasted for months.
Since 2006, the Climate Risk Index has analyzed the number of deaths, people affected, and economic damage caused by extreme weather events – both in absolute terms and in relation to population size and gross domestic product.
The CRI is compiled based on data from the International Disaster Database (EM-DAT) on extreme weather events, and socioeconomic data from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank.