Cyclones, floods, droughts – these are not just whims of nature. They are fuelled by human hands, by carbon rising unseen into the air, by oceans growing warmer, by lands stripped bare and left to thirst. We have stoked the fire, and now we live beneath its fury. But if we have shaped these tempests, we also hold the power to shield ourselves from their wrath.

When disaster strikes, it is always the poorest countries and people who suffer most. Their budgets already stretched thin – or siphoned away – are drained in an instant. Roads must be rebuilt. Schools and hospitals must rise again from the rubble. Power lines, snapped like brittle twigs, must be restored. These unexpected burdens stall economies and push struggling nations deeper into the undertow of poverty.

And yet, the means to soften the blow already exist. Since 2010, the World Bank has developed risk-transfer mechanisms to provide vulnerable countries with immediate emergency funds when catastrophe hits. A financial lifeline in the storm. But how many nations make it a priority? Too few. Some lack resources. Others, the foresight. Too often, it is simply ignored until it is too late.

To anticipate is to survive. Stronger buildings, deeper drains to carry the floodwaters away, warning systems that ring before the skies darken. But these things require time, and time demands political will. Prevention is quiet, unglamorous – it does not make headlines. And yet, every rupee spent on preparation saves seven in recovery. The math is simple, but the action is slow.

Cyclones do not respect borders. No nation can stand alone against the storm. Regional and international alliances must rise in their path. Shared technology, pooled knowledge, collective funding. Reunion Island, Mozambique, Mayotte, Mauritius – we cannot weather this alone. Southern Africa, the Indian Ocean, the world itself must link arms and face the wind together.

The changing climate is no longer a warning – it is the world we live in. And turning away from it will not keep the storms at bay. We must look forward, speak together, plan together. Chido, Garance – they are not the first, and they will not be the last. They will come fiercer, they will come faster, and they will tear through lives with no regard for the past.

To prepare is to save. Lives. Homes. Futures.

To do nothing is to accept that families will rebuild only to see their walls crumble again. To accept that nations will stand helpless while the winds unravel them.

And acceptance has never stopped a storm.