According to a newly released report by the Christian Aid organization, Asia accounted for 4 out of 6 major global economic disasters in 2025.
In South Asia alone, historic floods in India and Pakistan have claimed the lives of more than 1,860 people, causing damage of up to 6 billion USD. Pakistan is particularly severely affected, with more than 7 million people affected.
In Southeast Asia, the Philippines suffered a series of strong storms that caused more than 1.4 million people to evacuate, with economic damage exceeding 5 billion USD.
The losses of disasters caused by climate change are weighing heavily on the public budgets of many South Asian and Southeast Asian countries, and this number will increase further if there is no decisive action," warned Graham Gordon, Head of Global Policy Mobilization at Christian Aid.
According to Mr. Gordon, the top priority now is to shift resources from emergency response to risk prevention. “Early investment in resilience is much cheaper than rebuilding after floods have swept away houses, livelihoods and infrastructure” - he emphasized.
The report also points out a worrying paradox: Poor countries, which contribute very little to the climate crisis, are the ones that suffer the heaviest losses and have few resources to respond to themselves.
On a global scale, the US tops the damage list this year due to wildfires in California, causing losses of about 60 billion USD and killing more than 400 people.
However, storms and flash floods hit Southeast Asia in November, killing more than 1,750 people, ranking second in terms of devastation.
Floods in China, leaving thousands of people displaced and at least 30 people dead, are estimated to cause damage of about 11.7 billion USD.
Experts believe that Asia cannot completely prevent extreme rain, but it can significantly reduce losses by investing in early warning systems, improving disaster prevention capacity and protecting wetlands and natural alluvial grounds. However, adapting alone is not enough.
If global emissions are not cut quickly, heavy rain and floods will become even more serious" - Mr. Gordon warned, calling on countries to promote renewable energy and soon stop new investments in fossil fuels.
This view is supported by many scientists. Honorary Professor Joanna Haigh (Imperial College London) affirmed: "These disasters are not natural. They are predictable consequences of the expansion of fossil fuels and political delays.
World Weather Attribution's latest report shows that global temperatures in 2025 are "particularly high", with much hotter heat waves than a decade ago, pushing millions of people closer to the "adaptive boundary".
Notably, despite being affected by La Nina - a phenomenon often accompanied by cooler global temperatures - 2025 is still among the 3 hottest years ever recorded.
