El Niño Threatens Floods, Droughts in Vulnerable Communities

The rapidly strengthening El Niño weather system could cause severe floods, disease outbreaks, and droughts in the world's most vulnerable communities in East Africa and Asia, an international humanitarian aid organization has warned. The International Rescue Committee (IRC) said in a report released on Monday that Kenya, Uganda, Somalia, Bangladesh, Pakistan, and Afghanistan are the countries at highest risk. Many of these countries are already grappling with humanitarian crises. Bob Kitchen, IRC's director of emergencies, said, 'We are seeing multiple crises developing simultaneously. The places least able to cope with another major shock are the ones most at risk right now.' According to an assessment released by the US Climate Prediction Center on July 9, El Niño has been strengthening rapidly. There is an 81 percent chance it will become one of the strongest El Niños since 1950, with its effects expected to peak between October and December. Similarly, the UN's World Meteorological Organization (WMO) had predicted in early July that El Niño conditions had already developed and that its effects would intensify from July to September. Climate scientist Daniel Swain said, 'The temperature of the equatorial Pacific Ocean has reached its highest level for this time of year. Its global impact will be enormous.'

Communities already in crisis are at greater risk