Climate change can jeopardise working of hospitals
Source: Middle East Insurance Review | Jan 2024
One in 12 hospitals around the world could face partial or total shutdown from climate change extreme weather events if countries fail to curb fossil fuel emissions, according to a new report.
Southeast Asia has the highest percentage of hospitals at high risk of damage from extreme weather events in the world. With high emissions, almost 1 in 5 hospitals (18.4%) in Southeast Asia will be at high risk of total or partial shutdown by the end of the century. Hospitals located on coastlines and near rivers are most at risk.
The 80-page report Hospital shutdown: The 2023 XDI Global Hospital Infrastructure Physical Climate Risk Report published by physical climate risk analysis company XDI (Cross Dependency Analysis) reveals that hurricanes, severe storms, flooding, forest fires and other catastrophic disasters could cut off communities from emergency hospital care right when they need it most.
The report analyses the risk to over 200,000 hospitals around the world from climate change extreme weather events. The study considers six climate change hazards: coastal inundation, riverine flooding, surface water flooding, forest fire, extreme wind and cyclonic wind. The analysis focuses on physical damage to building structures and calculates how different emission scenarios can reduce risk.
The report lists the names, location and level of risk (high, medium, low) for each individual hospital in the analysis (200,216 hospitals). It also urges all governments to check for high-risk hospitals in their region and conduct further analysis to understand and reduce this risk.
The report reveals that without a rapid phase out of fossil fuels, up to one in 12 hospitals worldwide will be at high risk of total or partial shutdown from extreme weather events by the end of the century - a total of 16,245 hospitals. A residential or commercial building with this level of risk would be considered uninsurable.