Over 1.6 lakh Indians lost their homes to natural disasters this year

India Today

4 days ago

Is the climate apocalypse here? In 2024, more than 400 natural disaster events were reported in India, the highest in the last two decades. And almost always, the cost borne by victims is their homes. Natural disasters cause displacement, either temporary or permanent.According to data from the Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre, in 2024, more than 1.18 lakh people in India were displaced due to natural calamities, a 30 per cent increase from the previous year. Approximately 32,000 displacements were recorded in 2022, and 22,000 in 2021.advertisement
The surge in the number of natural disaster events is also alarming. Between 2019 and 2023, India recorded a total of 281 natural disaster incidents. But in 2024 alone, the country witnessed over 400 such events.Over the past six years, floods have accounted for 55 per cent of all internal displacements, followed by storms at 44 per cent. Other climate-related displacements were caused by disasters such as landslides, earthquakes, and droughts.And if 2024 was alarming, 2025 is already worse. In just the first six months, over 1.6 lakh people have been displaced across India due to natural disasters, according to state-level data from the Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre.People living in the northern part of West Bengal were most affected by disasters. Approximately 80,000 people were displaced due to erosion on May 20 in Mathnashipur in West Bengal, even though only one major flood event was recorded in the state.Assam was the second worst-hit, with more than 42,000 people displaced in six floods, followed by Tripura, which recorded over 21,000 displacements in 10 floods this year.- EndsTune InMust Watch