New report highlights world cities at flood risk

(Vatican Radio) A new report was published on Monday by the charity Christian Aid highlighting the world cities most at risk from future coastal flooding.

The document entitled Act Now Or Pay Later: Protecting a billion people in climate-threatened coastal cities, shows that more than a billion people are set to be exposed to coastal flooding by 2060 through a combination of sea level rise, storm surges and extreme weather.

The findings reveal that people living in US China and India are most at risk.

Other cities named in the report include India’s Kolkata and Mumbai and Miami in the US.

Report author Dr Alison Doig, Christian Aid’s Principal Climate Change Advisor, spoke to Vatican Radio’s Lydia O’Kane saying, “Many many cities are already exposed who have seen flooding across the world already. What we’re saying is that it's going to get much much worse.” Some of the main reasons for this, she explains, are people movement into coastal urban areas and climate change.

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Dr Doig also highlights the fact that, according to the evidence collected, it will be the poor that will suffer the most, notably in cities such as New Orleans and Dhaka.

But she notes that the report is not all doom and gloom. They know she adds, the cities that are going to expand and they know what’s going to happen with climate change, so on that basis, they can prepare now especially by investing in the communities impacted.

One country, Dr Doig highlights, being helped by Christian Aid is Bangladesh. There the charity and its partner organization GUK are helping communities by raising their homes onto a plinth in order to keep them away from floodwaters.