The recently released Global Climate Risk Index 2020 by environmental think tank Germanwatch, reveals Puerto Rico as the most vulnerable country to extreme weather events over the last 20 years.

The Global Climate Risk Index 2020, which covers the 20-year period from 1999 to 2018, analyzes to what extent countries and regions have been affected by impacts of weather-related events which includes how often the extreme weather events occur and their impact, including the death toll. According to the report, countries should understand that the results serve as warning signs in order to be prepared for more frequent or more severe events in the future.

Aside from Puerto Rico, an advanced economy generating high income, Myanmar and Haiti which are both developing countries were also among the most affected by extreme weather events.

Compared to the CRI 2019, which considered the period from 1998 to 2017, there have been a few changes in the CRI ranking: while Puerto Rico remains at the top of the list, Myanmar and Haiti each move up one place to become one of the three most affected countries over the past two decades.

These rankings are attributed to the aftermath of the exceptionally devastating events such as the Category 4 Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico in 2017 which covered almost the entire archipelago, completely destroying its infrastructure, leaving most of the people without electricity for months, thousands dead and even more homeless. Meanwhile, the increase of vulnerability for Haiti could be attributed to hurricanes Jeanne (2004) and Sandy (2016). Likewise, Myanmar was struck hard by Cyclone Nargis in 2008, which was responsible for an estimated loss of 140 000 lives as well as the property of approximately 2.4 million people.

Also included on the list are the Philippines, Pakistan, Vietnam, Bangladesh, and Nepal which are classified as developing countries in the low income or lower-middle income country group, as well as Thailand and Dominica which are classified as upper-middle income countries.

According to the study, poor and developing countries are most vulnerable to climate risks and are often hit the hardest, seeing higher rates of deaths and hardships. Despite this, researchers also found that high-income countries are also feeling climate impacts more than ever before.

The extreme weather events in Puerto Rico have also made an impact to the country's access to safe potable water. In a previous article by Latin Post, the report dubbed, "Closing the Water Access Gap in The United States" released by the human rights non-profit organizations Dig Deep and U.S. Water Alliance says that high bacteria rates in Puerto Rico's surface water indicate the widespread wastewater issues.

Residents in Guayabota, a community in the town of Yabucoa, told researchers that wastewater regularly floods the streets of their neighborhoods due to the droughts and extreme rainfall which cause the sewer systems to constantly back up and overflow.

This Global Climate Risk Index 2020 further stressed that this year's United Nations climate change summit in Madrid needs to address the lack of additional climate finance to help the poorest people and countries to address Loss and Damage. It added, they are hit hardest by climate change impacts because they are more vulnerable to the damaging effects of a hazard but have lower coping capacity.

The report also demand the on-going climate change summit needs to result in a decision on how the need for support for vulnerable countries concerning future loss and damage is to be determined on an ongoing basis as wells as the necessary steps to generate and make available financial resources to meet these needs, and finally, strengthening the implementation of measures for adapting to climate change.