Los displaced by natural disasters y wars They are counted in millions. In 2022, the continent recorded 2.6 million internal displacements. Brazil and the United States constituted two thirds of the total population uprooted by natural disasters. The number of displaced people in the world in 2023 totaled 75.9 million, reveals a report from the UN agency specialized in migration.
In 2023, 47 million new displacements were recorded in the world to raise the number of people living in a situation of internal displacement to 75.9 million at the end of the year, a record that emphasizes the urgency of protecting this population and preventing further movements. of that type, says the new report from the Internal Displacement Monitoring Center.
The International Organization for Migration (IOM), co-author of the document, highlighted the role of disasters as increasing triggers of displacement and urged the expansion of risk reduction plans for those natural disasters.
Los natural disasters will continue to generate displacement
In 2023, catastrophes like Cyclone Freddy In southeastern Africa, the earthquakes in Türkiye and Syria, and the Cyclone Mocha in the Indian Ocean they caused 26.4 million movements, 56% of the total new internal displacements. Furthermore, it was observed a increase in disaster-induced displacement in high-income countries as Canadawhere a season of forest fires unprecedented caused 185,000 internal displacements.
The IOM warned that the number of people displaced by the natural disasters will increase in the coming years since the frequency, duration and intensity of natural disasters getting worse and worse due to climate change, as has been seen in recent weeks in Brazil and Kenya.
Violence and conflicts natural disasters
Violence and conflicts are the other two major reasons for massive population displacements. According to the study, In 2023 they generated about 20.5 million eradications. Sudan accounted for almost 20% of that figure and the Gaza Strip 17%.
IOM Deputy Director General Ugochi Daniels said when presenting the publication that while the planet faces conflicts and natural disastersthe overwhelming figure of 47 million new internal displacements is “the testimony of a horrifying story.”
“This report is a stark reminder of the urgent need to expand risk reduction natural disasterssupport peacebuilding, guarantee the protection of human rights and, where possible, prevent displacement before it occurs,” Daniels said.
Ukraine and Congo, at the forefront of conflict displacements
Globally, the country with the highest number of people displaced by conflict in 2023 was Ukraine, where the war with Russia has left 19.3 million people eradicated.
The Democratic Republic of the Congo recorded 24.5 million of internally displaced people due to violence and conflict. Myanmar, for its part, accumulated 3.5 million also due to violence.
Regarding the countries with the most displaced people natural disasters, China reached 101.4 million in 2023; Philippines 62.2 million; Nigeria 8.7 million; and Pakistan 5.1 million.
America and the natural disasters
On the American continent, there were documented 2.6 million internal displacements in 2022, compared to two million in 2021. Almost 80% due to disasters. Brazil and the United States, countries prone to these catastrophes and with large populations, each added a third of that figure.
At the end of the year, around 720,000 people were displaced for the natural disasters that devastated the region.
The United States recorded three quarters of that total, but that is partly because most countries in the region do not track movements by natural disasters once the initial phase of the crisis has passed and they lack data on prolonged displacement.
Natural disasters: storms
In 2022, The storms caused almost 1.2 million displacements in the region and the floods almost half that number. The majority of storm displacements occurred during the Atlantic hurricane season in the Caribbean basin, while displacements by floods occurred throughout the year, mainly in Brazil and Colombia.
Although that year there were fewer hurricanes that the previous year, was the Third most expensive hurricane season of which there is a record and it started later than usual.
War conflict in Colombia
The conflicts and violence gave rise to some 533,000 trips. Colombia accounted for most of the total, but crime-related violence in Haiti and Mexico also contributed.
About 5.9 million people They lived in a situation of displacement as a result of the conflict and violence in the region at the end of the year, 4.8 million of them in Colombia. By 2023, the number of internally displaced people in America has increased to 6.7 million.