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Disaster data: A balanced perspective - Mar 2007

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The year 2006 was characterized by a return to a kind of "normality" after the last years' major events. However, even though the disasters in 2006 have not captured as much attention as those of recent years, it is important to keep in mind that they have still had devastating impacts - particularly in developing countries. In 2006 there were 426 reported natural disasters that killed more then 23,000 people, affected 143 million others, andwere the cause of more then 34.6 billion US$ in economic damages.

Asia remained the most affected continent, with the two largest disasters of 2006: an earthquake that hit Indonesia in May and killed 5,578 people, and typhoon Durian in December that killed 1,399 people in the Philippines.

The 2006 figures showed a strong increase in the occurrence of floods, with 235 reported, which accounted for 55% of all disasters registered. Floods and windstorms continued to be the two major causes of economic impact. When combined, these two extreme events caused over 25.1 billion US$ in economic losses in 2006.

An interesting fact to point out from 2006 is the presence of four European countries among the top ten countries regarding the total number of deaths caused by natural disasters. This is due to the impact of two extreme temperature events that hit Europe during the year. The officially reported casualty figures for Belgium, the Netherlands and France showed that these countries suffered a severe excess morality due to the July heat wave (1), while Ukraine reported 803 deaths caused by a cold wave.

Dr. Debarati Guha-Sapir
Director

Note:

(1) These are figures based on preliminary reports and hence subject to possible changes. This issue will be analyzed in the June Cred Crunch