Natural disasters fall in 2009 – but no evidence of a downward trend
admin June 29th, 2010
The number of natural disasters around the world fell year-on-year in 2009 according to the Annual Disaster Statistical Review 2009 produced by CRED (Centre for Research on the Epidemiology of Disasters). And it also fell below the 2000-08 average.
But CRED, which is a World Health Organization (WHO) Collaborating Centre, warns that although the upward trend in disaster occurrence has stabilized in 2009 it is not possible to identify a trend from this fact: “In general, a high variation exists in the reported number of deaths and victims from one year to the next. This is mostly due to single disaster events that cause a tremendous human impact.” In 2009 there were no events like the 2002 drought in India (300 million victims), the 2004 Tsunami (226,408 deaths across 12 countries) or cyclone Nargis, which hit Myanmar in 2008 causing 138,366 deaths.
In 2009 335 natural disasters were reported worldwide compared with 350 in 2008. The 2000-08 annual average is 392, so both 2008 and 2009 showed a fall on that average. The 2009 disasters killed nearly 11,000 people and affected more than 119 million others. Nearly 40 million of these victims were affected by floods in Southern and Central China in July 2009.
In Africa, which is the main focus of Advance Aid’s activities and interest, there were 64 natural disasters, which matches the 2000-08 average number. But the number of victims, at just over seven million, was half the long-run average of 14 million.
Compared to the average, Africa saw an increase in hydrological and metereological disasters, but a decrease in climatological and geophysical disasters. Climatological disasters affected the largest number of Africans, but the absence of droughts and famines in 2009 meant that the overall number of victims in this area was down on previous years.
Sadly, with famine threatening Niger and Chad now that may not be the case when the 2010 figures come to be published.
And for the statisticians amongst you, the numbers published by CRED are not necessarily consistent with, or directly comparable with, those published by other authorities, who may count ‘victims’, ‘number affected’, ‘number made homeless’. All of these are valid categories, but will clearly generate different numbers showing the impact of the same disaster.
Other findings from CRED’s Annual Disaster Statistical Review 2009 include:
• Last year’s disasters caused more than $41.3 billion of damage;
• Hydrological disasters including flooding accounted for 53 percent of the total number of natural disasters;
• The number of people affected by meteorological disasters such as typhoons rose by 220 percent compared to 2008;
• The number of reported climatological disasters, such as extreme temperatures, droughts and wildfires, was higher in 2009 than the previous year but lower than the annual average for the 2000-2008 period;
• In 2009 there were only 25 geophysical disasters reported compared to the 2000-2008 annual average of 37. Of these, 18 were earthquakes, four tsunamis, two volcanic eruptions and one a landslide.
- East Africa , Great Lakes , North Africa , South East Asia , Southern Africa , West Africa
- Comments(0)