Cyclone Amphan to Australia wildfire: Climate misery worsened by pandemic in 2020

The aftermath of Covid-19 pandemic has halted the responses to humanitarian disasters while doing little to slow the rise of greenhouse-gas pollution throughout 2020 according to a recent report. 

Cyclones, wildfires and droughts affected developing and developed nations in various degrees and more severely because of the pandemic, reports Bloomberg citing the World Meteorological Organization's State of the Global Climate 2020 report.

More than 50 million people were "doubly hit" by climate-related disasters and Covid-19 restrictions, the WMO authors write. 

They exemplified Bangladesh highlighting the damage done by Cyclone Amphan in 2020. 

Cyclone Amphan in May forced nearly 5 million people from their homes in eastern India and Bangladesh, with more than half them facing homelessness.

Similarly, summer flooding and landslides in China forced 2.2 million people to evacuate, destroying 29,000 homes.

More than 2,000 people died in monsoon-related flooding in South and Central Asia.

In April 2020, One of the South Pacific's most powerful storms ever, Cyclone Harold, pushed 100,000 people from their homes in island nations of East Asia with humanitarian response times slowed by pandemic-related delays in moving equipment and sending help.

Meanwhile, record fires burned parts of the US and Australia throughout 2020.

Last year was among the top three hottest on record across all five temperature datasets—about 1.2 degrees Celsius hotter than pre-industrial times. 

The hottest temperature ever measured in the Arctic Circle came in June 2020, when Verkhoyansk, Russia, hit 38°C (100°F). 

Eighty percent of the ocean experienced a marine heatwav and sea-level rise increased with continued melt in Greenland and West Antarctica. 

"This is truly a pivotal year for humanity's future," said António Guterres, secretary general of the United Nations, the WMO's parent organisation. "Climate disruption is here. I urge everyone to take the message of this report to heart."