UN official highlights how better preparation has shrunk disaster deaths despite worsening climate

By SETH BORENSTEIN
AP Science Writer

A top United Nations official says even though climate change makes disasters such as cyclones, floods and droughts more intense, more frequent and striking more places, fewer people are dying from those catastrophes globally. Thats because of better warning, planning and resilience.  New United Nations Assistant Secretary-General Kamal Kishore says climate and other disasters are still hurting people, often pushing them into abject poverty. The loss of livelihoods need to be reduced, but the world hasn’t really noticed how the type of storms that once killed tens or hundreds of thousands of people now only claim handfuls of lives.