Haiti, the Philippines and Pakistan were hardest hit by weather disasters in 2012, a report issued at U.N. climate talks on Tuesday showed, as the death toll mounted from the latest typhoon to devastate the Philippines.

 

Germanwatch, a think-tank partly funded by the German government, said poor nations had suffered most from extreme weather in the past two decades, and worldwide, extreme weather had killed 530,000 people and caused damage of more than $2.5 trillion.

 

"The unfolding human tragedy caused by super typhoon Haiyan will only be captured in future reports," said Soenke Kreft, a co-author of the report issued on the sidelines of November 11-22 talks among almost 200 nations trying to reach a deal by 2015 to slow global warming.

 

Super typhoon Haiyan, one of the most powerful storms ever recorded, slammed into the Philippines on Friday and killed an estimated 10,000 people in one coastal city alone. The toll is expected to rise sharply as rescue workers reach remote areas.

 

The report for 2012, based on an index of fatalities and economic damage from weather extremes, noted that Haiti was struck by Hurricane Sandy, the Philippines by typhoon Bopha and Pakistan had suffered severe monsoon floods.

 

A U.N. panel of climate scientists predicts that a build-up of planet-warming greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, mainly from human use of fossil fuels, will cause ever more droughts, floods, heatwaves and rising sea levels.