Northern revelers swimming the balmy seas off Okinawa just before typhoon Haiyun struck the Philippines must have noticed the waters were warmer this year. Around 28 degrees Celsius, compared to an air temperature of 26 degrees Celsius. Great for a last bit of summer sun before the long winter in Tokyo but deadly for some of the peoples of the Pacific and their economies.
Tropical cyclones like Haiyun typically form over large bodies of relatively warm water. With record high temperatures this year, the oceans around the East Asian seas have supplied such warmth in abundance, generating megastorms, which have hit nations like the Philippines hard, both physically and economically.
Further misery from natural disasters seems unavoidable. And the wealthier islands of Japan -- the world's third-biggest economy - will also share the financial burden. Japan also bares the brunt of vicious typhoons, which are forecast to grow even stronger in the near future, according to experts.
Japan is located in the middle of what is known as Typhoon Alley. Reinsurer Munich Re reckons that, between 1980 and 2008, eight of the 10 costliest natural disasters in Asia were typhoons that hit Japan. To be sure, such high costs may be due to an increase in insurance policies taken out in Japan, says climate scientist Miguel Esteban at the University of Tokyo. "Japan has experienced severe physical damage and other, indirect economic consequences of these weather systems.
These include the loss in economic productivity due to downtime in the public transportation system or other important industries, such as ports," he wrote in a recent paper. Relying almost entirely on imports of food and energy, Japan Inc. is more vulnerable to the disruptive effects of natural disasters than other developed states.
According to a report on climate change by the U.K. Embassy in Japan, the cost of direct damage from typhoons in Japan in the 1990s was 35 times greater than what it was in the 1970s, while the cost of damage related to flooding was eight times as much.
If that weren't enough, the effects of climate change are expected to spawn "super-typhoons," packing winds faster than a bullet train in the second half of this century, say Japanese researchers.
Source: NewsOnJapan
