Disasters caused over half million internal displacements in 2023: Report

India experienced over half a million internal displacements due to floods, storms, earthquakes, and other disasters in 2023, a significant dip from around 2.5 million displacements in 2022, according to a global report released on Tuesday. In Delhi, identified as a "flood displacement hotspot", the Yamuna River overflowed after heavy rains on July 9, 2023, prompting authorities to evacuate residents from their homes. The report by the Geneva-based Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre (IDMC) said around 27,000 displacements in the national capital. On July 9, Delhi recorded 153 mm of rainfall in just 24 hours, the highest single-day rainfall since July 25, 1982. Overall, South Asia reported around 3.7 million internal displacements in 2023, with disasters causing 3.6 million, the lowest figure since 2018. Researchers attributed the decline in displacements due to disasters partly to the El Nino event, which brought below-average rainfall during the monsoon and a weaker cyclone