With the world facing one of the worst climate changes, the coastal regions will see a 50 per cent flooding in 80 years, which will endanger millions more people, according to a new research.
The study was done by researchers of the University of Melbourne and University of East Anglia (UEA). The researchers found that land area exposed to an extreme flood event will increase by more than 250,000 square kilometres globally, an increase of 48 per cent.
One of the authors of the study Ebru Kirezci said that the sea level rose as water expanded because of global warming and melting of glaciers. Moreover, climate change also increased the frequency of extreme seas which will further increase the risk of flooding, Kirezci said.
Another author Robert Nicholls (director of the Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research at UEA) said that there was an urgent need to address sea level rise through climate mitigation to reduce the rise and adaptation such as better coastal defences.
Co author Prof Ian Young (University of Melbourne infrastructure engineering researcher) said that northwest Europe was particularly exposed to rising flood risk and the other major risk areas are in Australia, South-East Asia, New Zealand, India, China, north America and south east Africa.
Kirezci.said that the research showed that communities residing in low lying coastal areas are at risk of being devastated. She said that coastal defences have to be built in vulnerable areas.
