In the summer of 2022, one of the worst monsoons on record turned swaths of Bangladesh, a low-lying country in South Asia, into huge, muddy lakes. When the brunt of the flooding finally eased, at least 141 people had died and millions of others throughout the region had been injured, impoverished, or displaced. The sheer scale of the destruction made 2022 an outlier year, but data from the past few decades signals that the historic monsoon was part of a larger trend: Climate change is making South Asia’s rainy season more intense and inconsistent. Unusually fierce floods have plagued the region earlier in the year and more often than they used to — a pattern that research shows will continue, and worsen, as the planet warms in the years ahead.

A study published last week shows Bangladesh’s intensifying monsoons come with a staggering death toll, both in the immediate aftermath of the flooding itself and, more significantly, in the months that follow. The true scale of the toll has not been fully captured by local officials, aid organizations, or the international research community.

Related

The same is likely true for other parts of the world that experience recurrent climate disasters. “In the climate and health field, we often evaluate the health effects of specific acute events, because it’s easier to account for all the other potential factors that could be confounding the association,” said Lara Schwarz, an epidemiologist at University of California, San Diego, who was not involved in the study. But a focus on the short-term obscures the larger picture. “Most climate events don’t occur only once and are likely to harm vulnerable........

© Salon