Germanwatch, a German-based non-profit, research organisation published its Global Climate Risk Index-2011 in Cancun Saturday identifying Bangladesh as one of the top nations mostly vulnerable to climate change. The sixth CRI (Down 10) of Germanwatch was published on the sideline of the global climate conference Saturday on the basis of ten most affected countries in the last decade on the specific results in the four indicators. The indicators are: total death tolls, number of events, loss of property each person and loss of gross domestic product. As in previous years, the CRI-2011 analysed-to what extent countries have been affected by weather extreme events like storms, floods, heat waves etc, said author of the CRI Sven Harmeling of Germanwatch. The index was prepared based on the most reliable available data on the impacts of extreme weather events and associated socio-economic data, he said. According to the Germanwatch analysis, Chinese Taipei, Saudi Arabia and Australia were surprisingly among the ten most affected countries in 2009. The Germanwatch index took into account the climate-related impacts and associated vulnerabilities, not important climate aspects such as sea-level rise, glacier melting or more acid and warmer seas, Sven Harmeling said. This year’s analysis underlines that least developed countries are generally more affected than industrialised countries, he said. In 2009, El Salvador, Chinese Taipei, the Philippines, Vietnam and Saudi Arabia ranked as the most affected countries. But, Bangladesh, Myanmar and Honduras were the countries mostly affected by extreme weather events from 1990 to 2009, the index report said. During the period, as many as 259 extreme natural events hit Bangladesh while the number was 270 in Philippines and 203 in Vietnam, it said. In total, more than 650,000 people died as a direct consequence of almost 14,000 extreme weather events, and losses of more than 2.1 trillion USD occurred from 1990 to 2009. All of the ten most affected countries during 1990-2009 were developing countries in the low-income or lower-middle income country group, the index report said. In Bangladesh more than 80 per cent of the deaths occurred in 1991, the country is continuously hit by extreme events and the fact that no further peak catastrophe caused so much hardship. A total of 140,000 people died in Bangladesh in 1991 and the number drastically fall in subsequent years which can be seen as a partial proof that it is possible to better prepare for climate risks and prevent larger-scale impacts from disasters.