May be but not every time because it depends on the type of change

Hi David,

There are lots of literature on this and how extremes are used to help frame the boundaries of possible disaster scenarios and hence allows one to prepare for them. The re-insurance and insurance industries are very active in this. I would recommend perusing the web sites of the likes of Munich and Swiss Re etc. to get a sense of whats been done: catastrophe models etc..

Here is Canada we are approaching it very hands on. A project I have been involved in from the beginning is the development of a risk tool to help the insurance industry and municipalities to understand the flooding potential in municipalities. It allows municipalities to prioritize infrastructure renewal projects to mitigate/minimize flooding. Extremes in rainfall and storms are used, along with infrastructure and terrain data in the analysis. More details, in a general manner, can be found at:

http://www.ibc.ca/en/Natural_Disasters/Municipal_Risk_Assessment_Tool.asp

Hope this helps with your question.

cheers

Sam

I would imagine that extremes in climate present an excellent opportunity for disaster risk reduction, encouraging greater mitigation, legislation, planning and DRR technologies and allow for the opportunity for a proactive approach to disaster management in order to mitigate and reduce the potential risk, therefore I would hope that the threat or increased risk maybe a merit in itself encouraging new and holistic approaches to DRR

Thanks a lot Hatem, Sam and Stephanie for the wonderful responses. Your respective points are well noted and very much appreciated

@david: Firstly as the above people have inferred the it solely depends upon the variable in contention and the location to conclude upon the climate change impact.For example i am carrying a study to assess the climate change impact on offshore wind speeds along Indian ocean.It has been observed that the extremes are bound to increase.This has its advantages as well as disadvantages.The advantage is that the wind potential to be harnessed in future seems to increase which can boost energy sector.On the other hand the design of offshore structures has to be carefully dealt with increasing safety margins.So it is not mandatory that increasing extremes are hazardous,but yes they are bound to make their presence felt and make a difference!

Thanks a lot Sumeet for the wonderful opinion shared. Your point is well noted and very much appreciated

https://www.wmo.int/pages/prog/dra/vcp/documents/7607_Climate-Change-DRR.pdf