Mental health crisis looms as disasters worsen, say experts

A firefighter tackling wildfires in Shelburne County, Nova Scotia, Canada, on June 3, 2023. PHOTO: REUTERS
Smoke seen rising from a wildfire, in Halifax, Canada, on May 28. Over 16,000 people in Nova Scotia had to be evacuated. PHOTO: REUTERS
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A strange orange morning dawned in New York City on Tuesday last week, the usually pale yellow sunlight filtered through a haze of smoke from wildfires burning more than 1,000km north in Nova Scotia, Canada.

The causes of the fires that were spewing the smoke – which now regularly shrouds large swathes of North America, Australia and South-east Asia – may vary, but the underlying reality is that the warming planet has made them more frequent, widespread and intense.

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