紐時賞析／今年上半年 全美氣候災損創紀錄飆升

美國阿拉斯加州普蘭特斯維爾今年3月遭龍捲風席捲後，當地民衆正檢視散落一地的財物。這起龍捲風導致106億美元的災損，是今年災損最高昂的災害之一。紐約時報

Group That Revived U.S.Weather Database Says Costs of Disasters Are at a Record Pace

今年上半年 全美氣候災損創紀錄飆升

The Trump administration this year stopped updating a federal database that tracked the cost of extreme weather and informed an annual list of hurricanes, wildfires and other disasters that each caused at least $1 billion in damage.

川普政府今年停止更新追蹤極端天氣災損，及造成至少10億美元損害的颶風、野火和其他災難年度列表的聯邦資料庫。

But the cost of such catastrophes continues to escalate at a record pace. That’s according to a revived version of the database released by the nonprofit group Climate Central.

但是非營利組織「氣候中心」重新發布的資料庫顯示，這類災難的災損持續以創紀錄速度飆升。

Through the first six months of this year, disasters across the United States caused more than $100 billion in damage, the most expensive start to any year on record, it found. Fourteen disasters each caused at least $1 billion in damage through the first half of the year, the researchers found.

資料庫發現，今年前六個月，災害在全美造成超過1000億美元破壞，有史以來同期損失最多。研究員發現，今年上半年共14個災害，各造成至少10億美元損害。

The tally comes as President Donald Trump has said he wants to eventually shift the burden of disaster relief and recovery from the federal government onto states. The administration has created a panel that is expected to recommend changes to the way the Federal Emergency Management Agency operates by the end of November.

這項統計出爐之際，總統川普說，他希望最終將災後救助與重建的負擔，從聯邦政府轉移到各州。川普政府已成立一個小組，預定在11月底前提出改革聯邦緊急事務管理署運作方式的建議。

More than half the costs from extreme weather so far this year stem from the wildfires that tore through Los Angeles in January, which nearly doubled the record for fire damage, adjusted for inflation, said Adam Smith, the senior climate impacts scientist at Climate Central.

氣候中心氣候衝擊資深科學家史密斯表示，今年迄今超過一半的極端天氣損失來自一月席捲洛杉磯的野火。若以通膨調整後的金額計算，該場大火幾乎刷新並倍增歷來火災損失紀錄。

Smith led management of the federal database for 15 years as a researcher at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. He left the agency in May, shortly after the Trump administration said it would stop reporting disaster damage costs. The government had maintained that database since the 1990s, with data going back to 1980.

史密斯在美國國家海洋暨大氣總署任職期間，負責管理這個聯邦資料庫達15年。今年5月，川普政府宣佈停止公佈災害損失數據後不久，他便離開該機構。這項資料庫自1990年代建立，資料最早可追溯至1980年。

He is continuing the work at Climate Central — and plans to eventually gather even more detailed disaster data.

他目前在氣候中心持續進行這項工作，並計劃未來蒐集更詳細的災害資料。

“This dataset was simply too important to stop being updated,” Smith said.

史密斯說：「這份資料太重要，不能中斷更新。」

A NOAA spokesperson, Kim Doster, said the agency “appreciates” that the database found “a funding mechanism other than the taxpayer dime” as NOAA focuses on “sound, unbiased research over projects based in uncertainty and speculation.”

國家海洋暨大氣總署發言人多斯特表示，隨着國家海洋暨大氣總署專注於「可靠、公正的研究，而非根據不確定性和推測的專案」，本署「很感謝」這個資料庫找到「除了納稅人資金以外的資助機制」。

The information is used by the insurance industry, policymakers and researchers to understand and plan for a future in which storms, floods, fires and other hazards are becoming more frequent, intense and damaging.

這些資料被保險業者、政策制定者與研究人員用來了解並規劃未來可能面臨的風險，因爲暴風、洪水、火災等災害正變得愈來愈頻繁、強烈且破壞性更大。

The average number of billion-dollar disasters has surged from three per year during the 1980s to 19 annually during the last 10 years, the data show.

資料顯示，年損失超過10億美元的重大災害，從1980年代平均每年3起，激增至過去10年平均每年19起。

文／Scott Dance，譯／羅方妤

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