2010- United Nation’s Year in Review of Natural Disasters
Teresa Norrish
According to United Nation’s (UN) top disaster reduction official, 2010 was one of the deadliest years for natural disasters! It was the year with the highest-disaster-related-casualties in two decades; including the Haiti earthquake January 12, 2010 that claimed the lives of more than 222,500 people and the Russian summer heat wave that caused 56,000 fatalities.
The Centre for Research on the Epidemiology of Disasters (CRED) discovered that 75 per cent of the total deaths in the America’s last year were caused by the earthquake in Haiti; making the America’s the world’s worst affected continents in terms of fatalities. Europe had the second highest fatalities from the summer heat wave, Storm Xynthia (Feb), floods in France (June) and extreme winter conditions throughout Europe (Dec).
Teresa Norrish
According to United Nation’s (UN) top disaster reduction official, 2010 was one of the deadliest years for natural disasters! It was the year with the highest-disaster-related-casualties in two decades; including the Haiti earthquake January 12, 2010 that claimed the lives of more than 222,500 people and the Russian summer heat wave that caused 56,000 fatalities.
The Centre for Research on the Epidemiology of Disasters (CRED) discovered that 75 per cent of the total deaths in the America’s last year were caused by the earthquake in Haiti; making the America’s the world’s worst affected continents in terms of fatalities. Europe had the second highest fatalities from the summer heat wave, Storm Xynthia (Feb), floods in France (June) and extreme winter conditions throughout Europe (Dec).
89 per cent of the total people affected by natural disasters reside in Asia- making it the worlds most prone to natural disasters. However, last year Asia had the lowest recorded disaster-related deaths at 4.7 per cent of total fatalities.
The costliest event in 2010 was the earthquake in Chili (Feb) that totaled $30 billion followed by the landslides and floods in China with $18 billion, the flood-related destruction in Pakistan at $9.5 billion and the Haiti earthquake with $8 billion.
Last year, 373 disasters affected nearly 208 million people, took the lives of more than 296,800 people and cost an astonishing $110 billion. These statistics further emphasize the importance of not only having disaster / emergency / business continuity plans but also implementing a mitigation plan, running exercises and continuously updating and reviewing the plans. This will ensure that your organization is better prepared and has the support / resources to be put into place should there an emergency occur.
For more information about the UN’s year in review of Natural Disasters please visit:
http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=37357&Cr=disaster+reduction&Cr1=
The costliest event in 2010 was the earthquake in Chili (Feb) that totaled $30 billion followed by the landslides and floods in China with $18 billion, the flood-related destruction in Pakistan at $9.5 billion and the Haiti earthquake with $8 billion.
Last year, 373 disasters affected nearly 208 million people, took the lives of more than 296,800 people and cost an astonishing $110 billion. These statistics further emphasize the importance of not only having disaster / emergency / business continuity plans but also implementing a mitigation plan, running exercises and continuously updating and reviewing the plans. This will ensure that your organization is better prepared and has the support / resources to be put into place should there an emergency occur.
For more information about the UN’s year in review of Natural Disasters please visit:
http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=37357&Cr=disaster+reduction&Cr1=
