Rebecca Hersher

About half the world's least developed and small island nations don't have early warning systems, according to a 2025 United Nations report.

Yeah, exactly, which leads to deaths.

Here's United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres in a speech last year.

So the UN and other groups are trying to fix this problem.

Since 2022, the UN...

and the World Bank, and other contributors, they have spent more than $4 billion on weather warning systems.

And the goal is to protect everyone on Earth by 2027, although that's very soon.

The UN acknowledges that it will likely not meet that goal.

Still, the money, it is flowing, and some places are seeing progress, including Cambodia, which the UN has touted as a success story, which is really one of the reasons that I wanted to visit.

Well, they've made progress.

So as of like a decade ago, there really wasn't any modern system for warning people about flooding in Cambodia.

But that has been changing with the help of money from nonprofit groups and from the UN itself.

Residents who used to get, you know, basically no warning about floods now get flood forecasts up to five days in advance, which is a huge upgrade.

And people in riverside communities like Praktush, they get warnings now and they get them via voicemail.

No, it's literally like a normal voicemail.

But the message is a flood warning, not like a fun message from your friend.

And then it gives directions about how to evacuate.

Anyone in the country can opt in to getting these warnings.

You can also sign up to get text warnings on the popular messaging app Telegram.

I had the same question.