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. 2023 Sep 6;8(Suppl 4):33-56.
doi: 10.25646/11652. eCollection 2023 Sep.

Health impacts of extreme weather events - Cascading risks in a changing climate

Carsten Butsch  1   2 , Liza-Marie Beckers  3 , Enno Nilson  3 , Marieke Frassl  3 , Nicole Brennholt  4 , René Kwiatkowski  5 , Mareike Söder  6
Affiliations

Health impacts of extreme weather events - Cascading risks in a changing climate

Carsten Butsch et al. J Health Monit. .

Abstract

Background: Extreme weather events represent one of the most tangible impacts of anthropogenic climate change. They have increased in number and severity and a further increase is expected. This is accompanied by direct and indirect negative consequences for human health.

Methods: Flooding events, storms and droughts are analysed here for Germany from a systemic perspective on the basis of a comprehensive literature review. Cascading risks beyond the initial event are also taken into account in order to depict downstream consequences.

Results: In addition to the immediate health burdens caused by extreme weather events such as injuries, long-term consequences such as stress-related mental disorders occur. These stresses particularly affect certain vulnerable groups, e.g. older persons, children, pregnant women or first responders.

Conclusions: A look at the cascading risks described in the international literature allows us to develop precautionary measures for adaptation to the consequences of climate change. Many adaptation measures protect against different risks at the same time. In addition to planning measures, these include, above all, increasing the population's ability to protect itself through knowledge and strengthening of social networks.

Keywords: CLIMATE CHANGE ADAPTATION; DROUGHTS; FIRES; FLOODS; STORMS; VULNERABILITY.

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Conflict of interest statement

Conflicts of interest The authors declared no conflicts of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Global trends of documented loss events (event types considered in this review) since 1900 Source: Own representation based on EM-DAT [23] Figure 1a (left) Persons affected and monetary losses Figure 1b (right) Fatalities
Figure 2
Figure 2
Persons affected by different types of events. Number of different event types worldwide and in Germany, recorded fatalities and injured persons from different types of events worldwide and in Germany. Source: Own representation based on EM-DAT [23]
Figure 3
Figure 3
Cascading risks triggered by floods, heavy rainfall and storms. Arrows indicate possible causal relationships between risks, amplifying factors and health consequences. Source: Own representation
Figure 4
Figure 4
Cascading risks that can be triggered by droughts and fires. Arrows indicate possible causal relationships between risks, amplifying factors and health consequences. Source: Own representation
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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