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NEW
YORK - The most recent weather-disrupting El Nino event
may be over, but its devastating effects have not been forgotten.
It has been blamed for thousands of deaths in storms, heat
waves, fires, floods, frost and drought. Property damage
was at least $32 billion worldwide.
After
studying the damages and loss, a team of United Nations
scientists has issued its report, concluding that now is
the time to get ready for El Nino's return.
The
warming of parts of the Pacific Ocean in 1997 and 1998 changed
the patterns of the wind and moisture overhead, resulting
in severe weather around the world. Michael Glantz of the
National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, Colo.
called that event a wake-up call.
"Awareness
of what El Nino can do to societies and economies is now
high," said Glantz, a longtime El Nino researcher and
senior author of the report.
The
report called, "Lessons Learned from the 1997-98 El
Nino: Once Burned, Twice Shy?" was presented Friday
at the United Nations in New York.
It calls
for several steps to be taken:
• Involve government leaders early on in climate disaster
policy and action
• Create regional organizations to focus solely on
El Nino impacts
• Designate funding to map the world's most vulnerable
populations
• Improve forecasting of the impacts and onset of El
Nino
• Educate people on how best to use those forecasts
• Develop a scientific establishment within each country
to use research results from other countries
Glantz said Peru, where the El Nino can mean inundating
rains, is a good example of what was done right during the
last El Nino.
The
government formed a task force to coordinate activities
and went to the World Bank for money to clean up rivers
and canals and shore up bridges and roads.
On the
other side of the coin, he said, Kenya had the forecast
in June of 1997 and the government didn't act on it. "When
heavy rains came, roads collapsed, train routes collapsed,
bridges, et cetera."
The
report presents the results of a 19-month study of 16 countries
and their response to the forecasts and impacts of the 1997-98
El Nino.
The
work focused on Bangladesh, China, Costa Rica, Cuba, Ecuador,
Ethiopia, Fiji, Indonesia, Kenya, Mozambique, Panama, Papua
New Guinea, Paraguay, Peru, the Philippines and Vietnam.
El Ninos
occur every two to seven years.
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