THESE two Indian cities may be submerged within a few decades: Study
1 min read 08 Mar 2023, 07:49 PM ISTAcross the Asian megacities alone, more than 50 million people could be affected by the higher than expected rise in sea levels – nearly 30 million of them in India.
PremiumA report published on Nature Climate Change has now shown that several Asian megacities run the risk of getting submerged within the next few decades owing to the threat of rising levels. Increasing global temperatures have been causing arise in sea levels, wherein unprecedented levels of ice melting caused by climate change.
However, the new study warns that the damage, rather submergence of coastal megacities in Asia will be sooner than was expected. Millions of people will be impacted by the rapidly rising sea level, the study says.
While many shoreline Asian megacities were already at risk of flooding, the study suggests that previous analysis underestimated the degree of sea level rise and subsequent flooding caused by natural ocean fluctuations.
Several Southeast Asian megacities are now the hot-spot for high sea-level rise, the study showed.
The study, conducted by scientists at the French National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS), the University of La Rochelle in France and the National Center for Atmospheric Research in the United States (NCAR), found that Thailand’s capital Bangkok, Vietnam’s Ho Chi Minh City and Yangon, Myanmar are particularly at risk, along with Chennai and Kolkata in India, some western tropical Pacific islands and the western Indian Ocean.
This underscores the urgent need to address climate change. The rise in sea level along the west coasts of the United States and Australia would also increase, the study suggested.
A CNN report on the same estimates that across the Asian megacities alone, more than 50 million people could be affected by the higher than expected rise in sea levels – nearly 30 million of them in India.
The sea level changes detailed in the report are not likely to take effect until the end of the 21st century. However, if the pace of greenhouse gas emissions increases, the threat becomes more imminent, the authors warned.
Climate change has already triggered unprecedented extreme flooding in the Asia-Pacific region within the last year, case i point the extreme floods that plagued Pakistan last year.
An analysis by the European Union’s Copernicus Climate Change Service described 2022 as “a year of climate extremes," including deadly floods in Pakistan and widespread flooding in Australia.
