Entire cities are at risk of being submerged under rising sea levels over the next 30 years, putting hundred of millions of people at risk of losing their homes, according to a new study.
A new digital elevation model known as CoastalDEM indicates that as many as 630 million people around the world live on land that lies below projected annual flood levels for 2100.
The figures, published in the Nature Communications journal, also show that some 340 million people will be living on land that falls below the levels of average annual coastal land by 2050 – up from the previous NASA estimate of 250 million.
People at risk of annual floods live in major cities including Bangladesh, Jakarta and Thailand – with the threat of being entirely submerged making the areas at risk of being uninhabitable.
Other cities across Asian countries are vulnerable – such as Shanghai, Tianjin and Hong Kong – while the Vietnamese capital Hanoi and the entire southern tip of the country could be flooded, according to the projections.
Nineteen other countries, including Brazil and the UK – where London is predicted to be affected – could also see land being lost beneath the waves.
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