Poorest bear brunt of climate shocks in cities

Cities are becoming increasingly vulnerable to climate pressures worldwide, with poor communities hit hardest.

"Cities are engines of growth but also centres of poverty and exclusion, and increasingly so as a result of negative impacts of disasters and climate change," says Janice Ian Manlutac, the Asian resilience lead for British aid agency Oxfam.

"In case of water shortages caused by extreme temperatures, for example, poor people are worst hit as they need to find alternative water sources which are more expensive – or compromise on its quality," she told an event organised by the Asian Cities Climate Change Network in Jakarta this week.