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The Guardian - AU
The Guardian - AU
Environment
Oliver Holmes, Hannah Ellis-Petersen in Delhi, Raphael Rashid in Seoul, Justin McCurry in Tokyo, and Danny Vincent in Hong Kong

INSANE: Forcing a reckoning how asia is preparing for a supersized el nino | Rare Historical Photos

This aerial picture shows a villager walking across a dried-up rice field with cracked soil caused by a prolonged dry season at Wening Galih village in Bogor, West Java
Fuelled by exceptionally warm ocean conditions across the tropical Pacific – and developing alongside the human-driven climate crisis – El Niño is virtually guaranteed to hit a very strong intensity towards the end of this year and into 2027. Photograph: Aditya Aji/AFP/Getty Images

Asian governments are rushing preparations for the most severe El Niño weather event on record, with hundreds of millions of people bracing for multiple crises at once as extreme heat, heavy rain and food shortages hit the region.

Fuelled by exceptionally warm ocean conditions across the tropical Pacific – and developing alongside the human-driven climate crisis – El Niño is virtually guaranteed to grow to a very strong intensity towards the end of this year and into 2027.

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