The UN International Strategy for Disaster Reduction says 2010 was the deadliest year for natural disasters in the past two decades. A total 373 natural disasters occurred affecting close to 210 million people and leaving a trail of destruction whose cost has been estimated at over 110 billion dollars.

The International Strategy for Disaster Reduction (UNISDR) says 2010 was the deadliest year for natural disasters in the past two decades.

According to the Centre for Research on the Epidemiology of Disasters (CRED), some 373 natural disasters killed over 296,800 people in 2010, affecting nearly 208 million others and costing nearly 110 billion dollars.

The top most lethal disaster, the 12 January earthquake in Haiti, which killed over 222,500 people made 2010 the deadliest year in at least two decades.

Moderate to strong La Niña conditions are now well-established in the equatorial Pacific Ocean, and are likely to continue at least until the first quarter of this year, according to the El Niño/La Niña Update issued recently by the World Meteorological Organization.

La Niña is thought to be linked to the floods and landslides that occurred in Colombia last year, from April to December, and more recently the floods in Queensland, Australia, triggered by rains that began late in December 2010.

For the first time, the Americas headed the list of the world’s worst affected continents, where 75 per cent of total deaths were caused by one single event in the Caribbean: the Haiti earthquake.

Asia experienced fewer disaster deaths that the Americas and Europe in 2010 – representing 4.7 per cent of total mortality that year – but remains the highest affected continent. Some 89 per cent of all people affected by disasters in 2010 lived in Asia, according to CRED.

Of the list of top 10 disasters with the highest death counts, five occurred in Asia – China, Pakistan, and Indonesia. Earthquakes killed 2,968 people in China in April and 530 people in Indonesia in October. From May to August, floods killed 1,691 people in that country, and a further 1,765 were killed by mudslides, landslide or rock fall triggered heavy rains and floods in August. Nearly 2,000 people were killed by massive floods in Pakistan that covered one-fifth of the land mass, due to rains which pelted the northwest from July to August.

Floods and landslides during the summer in China are estimated to have cost 18 billion dollars, the Pakistan floods 9.5 billion dollars, and the Haiti earthquake 8 billion dollars.

But the costliest event in 2010 was the Chilean earthquake in February, which cost 30 billion dollars in disaster damage. And yet, economic losses in 2010 still do not surpass that of 2005, where damage from Hurricane Katrina, Rita and Wilma alone amounted to 139 billion dollars. In 2008, the earthquake in Sichuan, China, inflicted 86 billion dollars in damage, bringing the total for that year to about 200 billion dollars.

Strengthening local community resilience will be a leading topic at the Global Platform for Disaster Reduction, a gathering of stakeholders in disaster risk reduction scheduled for 8 to 13 May, in Geneva, Switzerland, seat of the UN International Strategy for Disaster Reduction.

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The International Strategy for Disaster Reduction (UNISDR) says 2010 was the deadliest year for natural disasters in the past two decades.

According to the Centre for Research on the Epidemiology of Disasters (CRED), some 373 natural disasters killed over 296,800 people in 2010, affecting nearly 208 million others and costing nearly 110 billion dollars.

The top most lethal disaster, the 12 January earthquake in Haiti, which killed over 222,500 people made 2010 the deadliest year in at least two decades.

Moderate to strong La Niña conditions are now well-established in the equatorial Pacific Ocean, and are likely to continue at least until the first quarter of this year, according to the El Niño/La Niña Update issued recently by the World Meteorological Organization.

La Niña is thought to be linked to the floods and landslides that occurred in Colombia last year, from April to December, and more recently the floods in Queensland, Australia, triggered by rains that began late in December 2010.

For the first time, the Americas headed the list of the world’s worst affected continents, where 75 per cent of total deaths were caused by one single event in the Caribbean: the Haiti earthquake.

Asia experienced fewer disaster deaths that the Americas and Europe in 2010 – representing 4.7 per cent of total mortality that year – but remains the highest affected continent. Some 89 per cent of all people affected by disasters in 2010 lived in Asia, according to CRED.

Of the list of top 10 disasters with the highest death counts, five occurred in Asia – China, Pakistan, and Indonesia. Earthquakes killed 2,968 people in China in April and 530 people in Indonesia in October. From May to August, floods killed 1,691 people in that country, and a further 1,765 were killed by mudslides, landslide or rock fall triggered heavy rains and floods in August. Nearly 2,000 people were killed by massive floods in Pakistan that covered one-fifth of the land mass, due to rains which pelted the northwest from July to August.

Floods and landslides during the summer in China are estimated to have cost 18 billion dollars, the Pakistan floods 9.5 billion dollars, and the Haiti earthquake 8 billion dollars.

But the costliest event in 2010 was the Chilean earthquake in February, which cost 30 billion dollars in disaster damage. And yet, economic losses in 2010 still do not surpass that of 2005, where damage from Hurricane Katrina, Rita and Wilma alone amounted to 139 billion dollars. In 2008, the earthquake in Sichuan, China, inflicted 86 billion dollars in damage, bringing the total for that year to about 200 billion dollars.

Strengthening local community resilience will be a leading topic at the Global Platform for Disaster Reduction, a gathering of stakeholders in disaster risk reduction scheduled for 8 to 13 May, in Geneva, Switzerland, seat of the UN International Strategy for Disaster Reduction.

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• earthquake
• floods
• natural disasters