The data represents almost double the annual average of 6.3 million affected over the last decade, according to a report from the Internal Displacement Monitoring Center in Geneva, Switzerland.

Last year’s increase was caused mainly by severe and widespread flooding in Pakistan during the monsoon season, which left 10 percent of the country under water and displaced over eight million people.

Heavy rains, flooded rivers and cyclones, forced more than 2.5 million people in India to relocate, while in Bangladesh more than 1 million people had to seek refuge.

The Internal Displacement Monitoring Center further said that disaster reports in Bangladesh, India, Nepal and Pakistan, have only taken into account medium to large-scale events, meaning minor disasters that could lead to significantly high numbers were omitted.

Assessments also tend to focus on damages and losses from disasters, such as the destruction of homes, so the exact amount of people who were forced to relocate for that reason is unknown.

When displacement is reported, the data only mentions people in relief camps or evacuated by authorities, not those seeking refuge with host families or in informal sites, the Center stated.

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