22 Comments

Weather disaster, yes there are those. But there is no such thing as a climate disaster.

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Why don't we see this being reported by the BBC or mainstream papers? Or maybe the less naïve question is how do we get this sort of data into the mainstream media?

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Jan 5, 2022·edited Jan 5, 2022

Dr. Pielke ==> You have used the EM-DAT data correctly. Data before 2000 in their database represents only the improvement in their data collection system and is not valid for comparison with post-2000 data. At least two major UN reports have knowingly misrepresented disaster by comparing decadal data before 2000 (1970s or 1980s) with decades after 2000, like 2010s.

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Glad to see someone using data to respond to the conventional story told by much of the mainstream media.

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"the number of global weather and climate disasters declined..." Shouldn't this be phrased "the *economic costs* of global weather and climate disasters decline"? That's the way the referenced 2018 article states it. Do the declining economic costs say anything about the frequency and intensity of such disasters or simply indicate that human populations are better prepared for such disasters?

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