Nations worldwide are bracing for climatic havoc again in 2002 just five years after a devastating El Nino weather pattern engulfed the globe, killing more than 20,000 people and wreaking some $34 billion in damage.In recent weeks, the worlds top metereological centers have said that the odds are shortening for a recurrence of El Nino, where unusual warming of Pacific waters off South America triggers far-flung drought, ice storms, floods and fires.Forecasters at the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) kicked off the new year saying El Nino would likely return in spring though its intensity was unclear.
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