Extreme weather highlights Southeast Asia’s vulnerability to climate change

The
region faces the threat of increasing natural disasters as global warming makes
extreme weather more likely.

By Zachary Frye                                             

Over the past several weeks, parts of Southeast
Asia have been pummeled by severe storms. Widespread flooding across the region,
especially in Vietnam, left hundreds of thousands of residents temporarily
displaced.

In Vietnam alone, at least 90,000 people were forced from their homes during the
first several weeks of October after two heavy tropical storms, Linfa and
Nangka, hit the country just days apart.

In the Philippines, tropical storm Saudel made
landfall on October 20 and subsequently formed into a typhoon, leading to
further flooding in Vietnam. Parts of Cambodia, Thailand and Malaysia were also
affected.

The latest typhoon, Goni, slammed…