Mainstreaming Climate Change for Extreme Weather Events & Management of Disasters: An Engineering Challenge

Frequency and severity of some extreme weather events are increasing. They are causing extensive damages to infrastructures and to socio-economy of many countries. The loss of human lives due to the extreme weather events are also on the rise. Most of the economic losses occur in the developed countries while most of casualties happen in developing countries. While extreme weather events damage infrastructures, the latter have roles in increasing economic damage and human losses. Failure of levees during Hurricane Katrina and resulting damage is a recent example. Climate change may increase magnitude and frequency of extreme weather events. Infrastructures that already built by taking into account historical climate data will be at a higher risk. New infrastructures need to take into consideration of climate change related parameters that will reduce vulnerability as well possibility of a disaster. However, it is not an easy task. Many policy, design and financial issues are involved. Mainstreaming of climate change in infrastructure planning, design and implementation will emerge as a formidable engineering challenge.