This was revealed by Prof. Xing Chen, Deputy Director of Institute of
Climate and Global Change Research, Nanjing
University, during a lecture on ‘Climatic Disasters’ delivered at
the Asian Institute of Technology (AIT) on 25 March 2010.
Climatic Disasters in China have included floods, droughts, typhoons,
urban flooding and cold waves. Prof. Chen added that China had
experienced unusually cold winters during the last few years. Southern
China was severely affected by snow in 2008. With the increase in
urbanization, climate disasters are becoming a severe hazard in
megacities, particularly along the coast line of eastern China. After
1990, drought has increased both in intensity, as well in geographical
coverage. Drought affected regions have shifted to southeast and
southwest, he added. Droughts have resulted in a crop yield reduction
-- from five million tons in 1950s, to 29 million tons in the 2010s,
Prof. Chen added.
Earlier Dr. Manzul K. Hazarika, Senior Research Specialist, School of
Engineering and Technology (SET) welcomed Prof. Chen. Dr. Parichatt
Krongkant, Director, International Cooperation Division, National
Science and Technology Development Agency (NSTDA), who is an AIT
alumna, also graced the lecture. According to Ms. Vineeta Thapa,
Program Officer, Disaster Preparedness, Mitigation and Management
(DPMM) field of study, the talk was organized by DPMM and witnessed
participation from students, staff and faculty.
