Source: Prothom Alo

Bangladesh is among the ten most climate affected countries between 1996 and 2015, according to the Global Climate Risk Index 2017 developed by the Germanwatch.

According to the index, the position of Bangladesh remained unimproved as sixth out of 108 nations this year.

During the 20-year period, Bangladesh was struck by the most extreme weather events.

The index said all the ten countries that made the bottom 108 list last year appear again in this year’s edition.

Haiti, the poorest country of the Western Hemisphere, as well as Honduras and Myanmar remain the top three most affected countries over the past two decades.

These rankings are attributed to the aftermath of exceptionally devastating events such as Hurricane Sandy in Haiti and Hurricane Mitch in Honduras. Myanmar has also been struck hard, most notably by Cyclone Nargis in 2008, responsible for an estimated loss of 140 000 lives as well as the property of approximately 2.4 million people.

Neighbouring nation India also faced several types of extreme weather events in 2015. After floods in February and March due to unseasonal rainfall, it suffered from one of the deadliest heatwaves in world history (EMDAT) killing more than 2,300 people in May, followed by a much weaker monsoon than normal.

The Germanwatch Global Climate Risk Index is an analysis based on one of the most reliable data sets available on the impacts of extreme weather events and associated socio-economic data.