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It has been the economic heartbeat of the world's fourth most populous country for almost 500 years, but Jakarta's days as Indonesia's capital could be numbered.

Choked with traffic and garbage, the city on the northwest Java coast has been pushed to breaking point as its population surges above 12 million and its foundations sink under the weight of rampant development.

Floods displace thousands of people and cause millions of dollars of damage every year, and are predicted to get worse with rising sea levels, unchecked logging in catchment areas and the blocking of canals with rubbish.

A World Bank study has found that by 2025 the sea could be lapping at the gates of the presidential palace in the centre of the the former spice capital, known until 1942 as Batavia.

This could explain why President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono recently revived a radical plan to shift the capital to a new location.

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Storm-hit Britain was drenched by one of the wettest ever Novembers, forecasters have said.

The month has already had the fifth highest amount of rainfall on record - and is set to climb further up the rankings when figures for the past week are added on Tuesday."

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"Globally, the average number of major weather-related catastrophes such as windstorms, floods or droughts is now three times as high as at the beginning of the 1980s. Losses have risen even more, with average increases of 11 percent per year since 1980, the reinsurance company Munich Re says in a statement.

"Something must be done."

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In the 11 countries in West Africa hit by severe floods, over 593,000 people have been forced from their homes and 159 have been killed, the United Nations reported Tuesday, raising the number of residents affected by the disaster.

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Up to 20 million people in low-lying Bangladesh are at risk from sea-level rise in the coming decades, according to new research.

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Cleanup efforts unfolded Monday in Pakistan's largest city, Karachi, after torrential monsoon rain over the weekend killed dozens, cut power to 15 million and broke a 32-year record.

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Emergency organisations could be overwhelmed within seven years by the rising number of people in poor countries affected by floods, droughts, heatwaves, wild fires, storms, landslides and other climate hazards.

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