Friday Dec 12, 2025
Friday Dec 12, 2025
Friday, 12 December 2025 00:30 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}
The United Nations yesterday issued a stark warning that the world is increasingly vulnerable to extreme weather events, with current systems, financing and infrastructure far from adequate to handle the accelerating pace and scale of climate-related disasters.
Addressing the media following Sri Lanka’s worst natural disaster in two decades, UN Resident Coordinator Marc-André Franche said extreme weather is becoming more frequent and intense across the globe, yet preparedness, both nationally and internationally has not kept pace.
“I would say that the world is not very well prepared for this. We are seeing more and more extreme weather events, cyclones, flash floods and it is clear that in the next years and the next decades, the world is going to suffer a lot more of these disasters, and we are not prepared,” he said.
Franche noted that countries are increasingly struggling to cope with overlapping crises, while global humanitarian financing is shrinking as Governments divert Budgets to competing domestic priorities.
He acknowledged that Sri Lanka faces stiff competition for international funding, as countries across the region including Vietnam, Indonesia and Thailand grapple with simultaneous climate-related disasters, while major humanitarian crises continue in Sudan, Gaza and Yemen. “I can’t remember a time where we had so many emergencies at the same time,” he stressed.
Franche urged Governments including Sri Lanka to use the aftermath of disasters as a turning point to rebuild stronger, safer and climate-smart infrastructure rather than replicate past vulnerabilities.
The UN Resident Coordinator asserted the need for climate-resilient rebuilding and avoiding resettlement in high-risk areas. “Some communities already knew they lived in zones historically prone to flooding. People should not be living there, period,” he said, adding that other areas will require mitigation measures rather than relocation.
“That’s why it is so important that the Government does not allow people to resettle in areas that are vulnerable to flooding. We need to build protections on the sides of the Kelani River and the hundreds of rivers in Sri Lanka, so people are protected from future flooding,” he added.
He said weather shocks are becoming more common and more extensive, and the economic and human toll will surge unless countries urgently redesign their development models around climate resilience.
“Obviously, there’s no one solution. I think we need to use all the tools at the disposal of the Government, to find a multiplicity of solutions,” he noted.
He opined that proactive investment is far cheaper than repeated post-disaster relief and reconstruction.
“This is a priority everywhere. How do you invest to protect against future climate disasters? How do you invest in a climate-smart way? These are the questions every country must answer,” Franche said.
