*3.1.1 Food access and natural disasters*

Climate change influences severe events such as natural disasters, scarcity, low air quality, unequal food distribution, and conflict over natural sources. Natural disasters hit the world differently and in some regions the effects are severe. Each natural disaster impacts several environmental elements.

**Drought:** It is the decrease of rainfall rates more than usual per season or year. Drought can be in several forms such as meteorology drought known as precipitation shortage, agriculture drought as soil moisture, and socioeconomic drought as influenced by other drought types [34]. The increases in drought events influence food security negatively because of water scarcity and lower agriculture yield, which affects their availability in food outlets and results in a lack of food access. Moreover, it influences the availability of food, which increases its prices because of scarcity [34]. The drought in 2007–2008 combined with increased energy prices caused a food crisis, where food prices increased more than double [35]. In the Middle East, the hydrological drought peak was in 2009 as 50% of the area faced extreme drought. Meteorological drought was documented in the early 1970s, and 2000s, and 60% drought in the period between 2008 and 2012. These drought events affected food security, especially in 2010.

**Hurricane:** During severe rain and hurricane events, life sectors got affected at different levels. The hurricane may affect electricity and streets. The electricity damage stops all activities dependent on it such as food refrigeration. Damages to trees and falling on roads may stop people from accessing essential needs such as food outlets. Regardless of the effect on all stores, large food outlets such as supermarkets seem to be more resilient. Natural disasters such as hurricanes can affect food sources and that results in low food availability. For instance, in Puerto Rico, 69% of farmers were experiencing food insecurity after hurricane Maria in 2017, and 38% of them were experiencing food insecurity for 3 months or more [36].

**Flooding:** It is when water overflows or soaks in an area that is not a river or a lake. A natural disaster like flooding has several impacts on the food system. Floods impact agriculture negatively and that affects the food available for purchase. Crops were damaged by the water overflow. In Bangladesh, the flood damaged 12% of their rice yield in 2007 [37]. In Pakistan, the flood of 2010 resulted in a crop loss of approximately 19% [37]. Some countries' experiences with floods and other natural disasters encouraged them to make an impact such as what governments of the Philippines, Malaysia, and ideas planned [36]. In the United States, severe events such as floods and hurricanes are documented between 2004 and 2014, and the country recorded 24 natural disasters with effect on 1.90 million people. These events affect people's access by damaging infrastructure which limits people's access to food [38].
