NATION & WORLD EXTRA - USA TODAY NETWORK | TUESDAY, APRIL 26, 2022 | 11NN

UN says worse disasters yet to come

By 2030, number could
grow to 160 more per year
Seth Borenstein
ASSOCIATED PRESS

A disaster-weary globe will be hit

harder in the coming years by even more
catastrophes colliding in an intercon-
nected world, a United Nations report
issued Monday says.
If current trends continue the world
will go from around 400 disasters per
year in 2015 to an onslaught of about
560 catastrophes a year by 2030, the
scienti c report by the United Nations
O ce for Disaster Risk Reduction said.
By comparison from 1970 to 2000, the
world su ered just 90 to 100 medium to
large scale disasters a year, the report
said.
The number of extreme heat waves in
2030 will be three times what it was in
2001 and there will be 30% more
droughts, the report predicted. It’s not
just natural disasters ampli ed by cli-
mate change, it’s COVID-19, economic
meltdowns and food shortages. Climate
change has a huge footprint in the num-
ber of disasters, report authors said.
People have not grasped how much
disasters already cost today, said Mami
Mizutori, chief of the UN O ce of Disas-
ter Risk Reduction, “If we don’t get A man takes pictures of the ruins of the old village of Vilar, submerged since 1954 when a hydropower dam flooded the
ahead of the curve it will reach a point valley. The ruins have risen above the waters of the Zezere River due to drought, near Pampilhosa da Serra in central
where we cannot manage the conse- Portugal, Feb. 17. By the end of January, 45% of the country was enduring “severe” or “extreme” drought conditions,
quences of disaster,” she said. “We’re according to the national weather agency IPMA. SERGIO AZENHA/AP FILE
just in this vicious cycle.”
That means society needs to rethink
how it nances, handles and talks about steadily decreasing because of better disasters, then the recent increase in The report calls for an overhaul in
the risk of disasters and what it values warnings and prevention, Mizutori said. yearly disaster deaths could be tempor- how we speak about risk. For example,
the most, the report said. About 90% of But in the last ve years, disaster deaths ary, otherwise it’s probably “the new ab- instead of asking about the chances of a
the spending on disasters currently is are “way more” than the previous ve normal.” disaster happening this year, say 5%, of-
emergency relief with only 6% on recon- years, said report co-author Roger Pul- Disasters are hitting poorer countries cials should think about the chances
struction and 4% on prevention, Mizu- warty, a U.S. National Oceanic and At- harder than richer ones, with recovery over a 25-year period, which makes it
tori said in an interview Monday. mospheric Administration climate and costs taking a bigger chunk out of the quite likely. Talking about 100-year
Not every hurricane or earthquake social scientist. economy in nations that can’t a ord it, oods or chances of something happen-
has to turn into a disaster, Mizutori said. That’s because both COVID-19 and co-author Markus Enenkel of the Har- ing a couple times in 100 years makes it
A lot of damage is avoided with plan- climate change disasters have come to vard Humanitarian Initiative said. seem distant, Mizutori said.
ning and prevention. places that didn’t used to get them, like “These are the events that can wipe “In a world of distrust and misinfor-
In 1990, disasters cost the world tropical cyclones hitting Mozambique, out hard-earned development gains, mation, this is a key to moving forward,”
about $70 billion a year. Now they cost Mizutori said. It’s also the way disasters leading already vulnerable communi- said University of South Carolina Haz-
more than $170 billion a year, and that’s interact with each other, compounding ties or entire regions into a downward ards Vulnerability and Resilience Insti-
after adjusting for in ation, according damage, like wild res plus heatwaves or spiral,” he said. tute Co-Director Susan Cutter, who
to report authors. Nor does that include a war in Ukraine plus food and fuel The sheer onslaught of disasters just wasn’t part of the report. “We can move
indirect costs we seldom think about shortages, Pulwarty said. add up, like little illnesses attacking and forward to reduce the underlying driv-
that add up, Mizutori said. Pulwarty said if society changes the weakening the body’s immune system, ers of risk: Inequality, poverty and most
For years disaster deaths were way it thinks about risk and prepares for Pulwarty said. signi cantly climate change.”

North Korea begins military US offers ‘clean

energy’ loan for
parade amid revived tensions Australian plant
Kim Tong-Hyung and Hyung-Jin Kim
in Louisiana
ASSOCIATED PRESS ASSOCIATED PRESS

SEOUL, South Korea – North Korea VIDALIA, La. – An Australian com-

began a much-anticipated military pa-
rade in its capital on Monday to mark
the 90th anniversary of its army’s
founding, with outside experts saying
it was likely to display powerful mis-
siles and other weapons capable of
targeting the United States and its al-
lies.
South Korea’s military said the
march began late Monday evening in
Pyongyang after a pre-parade ceremo-
ny. It didn’t immediately provide other
details, such as whether North Korean
leader Kim Jong Un was present.
NK News, a North Korea-focused
news site, cited unidenti ed sources
as saying that 12 illuminated ying ob-
jects, possibly drones or helicopters,
were seen in the sky above Pyongyang,
followed by the sounds of reworks.
In past parades, North Korea has of-
ten displayed newly built nuclear-ca-
pable missiles and goose-stepping sol-
diers in an attempt to intimidate its ri-
vals and bolster internal unity. Kim has
also given speeches highlighting his
commitment to boosting the armed
forces to cope with what he calls U.S.
hostility.
The parade comes as Kim is reviv-
ing nuclear brinkmanship aimed at
forcing the United States to accept
North Korea as a nuclear power and re-
move crippling economic sanctions.
Analysts say North Korea is exploiting
a favorable environment to push for-
ward its weapons program as the Unit-
ed Nations Security Council remains
divided over Russia’s war in Ukraine.
Nuclear negotiations between
Washington and Pyongyang have been
stalled since 2019 because of disagree-
ments over the potential easing of
U.S.-led sanctions in exchange for
North Korean disarmament steps. Kim
has stuck to his goals of simultaneous-
ly developing nuclear weapons and
the country’s dismal economy in face
of international pressure and has
shown no willingness to fully surren-
A submarine-launched ballistic missile is displayed in Kim Il Sung Square during a
military parade in Pyongyang, North Korea, in 2017 to celebrate the 105th birth
anniversary of Kim Il Sung, the country’s late founder and grandfather of current
ruler Kim Jong Un. North Korea began a much-anticipated military parade in its
capital on Monday, marking the 90th anniversary of its army’s founding.
WONG MAYE-E/AP FILE
der a nuclear arsenal he sees as his big-
gest guarantee of survival. North Korea
has conducted 13 rounds of weapons
tests this year, including its rst ight
test of an intercontinental ballistic mis-
sile since 2017.
There are also signs that North Korea
is rebuilding tunnels at a nuclear testing
ground that was last active in 2017, pos-
sibly in preparation for a resumption of
testing. It could also conduct a banned
launch of a long-range rocket to put a
spy satellite into orbit or test- y mis-
siles over Japan, experts say. North Ko-
rean state media did not immediately
report the parade. Earlier Monday, o -
cial newspapers ran editorials calling
for stronger public support of Kim.
“The respected Comrade Kim Jong
Un is the symbol of the mightiness of
our party, state and revolutionary
armed forces and the representative of
their great dignity,” the main Rodong
Sinmun newspaper said in an editorial.
“All happiness and rosy future lie in fol-
lowing the respected General Secretary
Kim Jong Un.”
North Korea’s recently tested weap-
ons are potentially capable of striking
the U.S. homeland as well as South Ko-
rea and Japan. The North has spent
much of the past three years focusing on
expanding its short-range arsenal tar-
geting South Korea as nuclear negotia-
tions with the United States stalled.
Kim’s aggressive military push could
also be motivated by domestic politics
since he doesn’t otherwise have signi -
cant accomplishments to show to his
people as he marks a decade in power.
He failed to win badly needed sanctions
relief from his diplomacy with former
U.S. President Donald Trump, and the
COVID-19 pandemic unleashed further
shocks to the country’s broken econo-
my, forcing him to acknowledge last
year that North Korea was facing its
“worst-ever situation.”
pany’s Louisiana subsidiary can get up
to $107 million in U.S. Department of
Energy loans to expand a plant that
produces materials for electric car bat-
teries the department said Monday.
The loan to Syrah Technologies LLC
would be the Biden administration’s
second clean energy loan.
The money is expected to enable
the plant to produce enough graphite-
based “active anode material” for
about 2.5 million electric vehicles by
2040, “saving an estimated 970 mil-
lion gallons of gasoline,” according to a
department blog post.
It would reactivate a program last
used more than a decade ago during
the Obama administration to lend
money to auto makers and would be
the program’s rst use for a supply
chain project, the department said. It
said previous Advanced Technology
Vehicles Manufacturing loans went to
Ford, Nissan and Tesla.
“Importantly, this project also pro-
vides a socially and environmentally
responsible U.S. supply chain for
graphite,” the Energy Department
said.
Syrah’s plant is in Vidalia, a city of
4,000 on the Mississippi River about
100 miles north of Baton Rouge. It uses
graphite from Syrah’s huge mine in
Mozambique.
Tesla signed a contract in Decem-
ber 2021 with Syrah Resources of Mel-
bourne, Australia, and Syrah Technol-
ogies announced plans for a $177,000
expansion in Vidalia two months later.
Gov. John Bel Edwards’ o ce said Sy-
rah would add 36 jobs to the 19 employ-
ees it had at the time.
The federal loan will create 98 per-
manent and 150 construction jobs, the
Energy Department said.
“Several steps remain, and certain
conditions must be satis ed before the
Department issues a nal loan,” the
blog post said. It did not say what
those are.