(Increasing “extreme weather events”)

The IPCC Fourth Assessment Report says, “Warming of the climate system is unequivocal, as is now evident from observations of increases in global average air and ocean temperatures, widespread melting of snow and ice, and rising global average sea level,” and furthermore, it points out, “It is very likely that hot extremes, heat waves and heavy precipitation events will continue to become more frequent,” and “it is likely that future tropical cyclones (typhoons and hurricanes) will become more intense, with higher peak wind speeds and heavier precipitation.”

The “Special Report on Managing the Risks of Extreme Events and Disasters to Advance Climate Change Adaptation,” which was agreed to and accepted by the IPCC in the 34th Session of the IPCC held in November 2011 indicates that climate changes associated with global warming may have caused an increase in the number of warm days/nights, a decrease in the number of cold days/nights, an increase in the intensity of heavy rainfall, an increase in the number of extreme coastal high water incidents related to increases in the mean sea level, and changes in tropical cyclone activity (i.e., intensity, frequency, duration), as well as predicting a dramatic increase in extreme weather events by the end of the 21 $ ^{st} $ century using meteorological forecast models. Especially in the East Asian area, the report indicates that at present a 1-in-20 year extreme daily maximum temperature event is likely to become a 1-in-2 to 5 year event during the period of

Chart. 110 Major disasters in the world since 2005

Year	Disaster	Country	Number of dead or missing
2005	Flood/landslide	India	1,503
2005	Hurricane	USA	5,336
2005	Rainstorm	India, Bangladesh	4,049
2005	Hurricane/flood	Guatemala, El Salvador, Mexico, Costa Rica, Nicaragua	1,597
2005	Earthquake	Pakistan, India, Afghanistan	74,651
2006	Cold wave	Russia, eastern Europe	1,000 or more
2006	Landslide	Philippines	1,122
2006	Earthquake/volcanic eruption	Indonesia	5,778
2006	Typhoon	Southeast area of China	1,400 or more
2006	Heat wave	Central Europe	2,000 or more
2006	Typhoon	Philippines	1,496
2007	Heavy rainfall, flood	India	1,752
2007	Flood, landslide	Bangladesh	1,152
2007	Cyclone	Bangladesh	4,234
2008	Cyclone	Myanmar	130,000 or more
2008	Earthquake	China, Sichuan	69,227
2008	Heavy rainfall	India, Pakistan, Nepal	2,700 or more
2009	Earthquake/tsunami	Indonesia, Sumatra	1,117 or more
2010	Earthquake/tsunami	Haiti	222,570
2010	Earthquake	China, Qingdao	2,220 or more
2010	Heavy rainfall, flood	Pakistan	1,960 or more
2010	Heavy rainfall, mudslide	China, Gansu	1,760 or more
2011	Earthquake/tsunami	Japan, East Japan	18,870

Note: 1 Disasters with 1,000 or more dead or missing are listed.

2 Data for the Great East Japan Earthquake is as of April 4, 2012.

Source: Developed by MLIT from "White Paper on Disaster Management 2008" issued by Cabinet Office, Government of Japan, "White Paper on Disaster Management 2008," "White Paper on Disaster Management 2010," and "Chronological Scientific Tables"

Chart. 111 Projected return periods for daily precipitation events that have occurred only once during the past 20-year period (Year)

The emissions scenarios, B1 (blue), A1B (green) and A2 (red) are used.

Source: “Special Report on Managing the Risks of Extreme Events and Disasters to Advance Climate Change Adaptation” by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)