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2006b). With the development of industry and the growth of the population density,
these mechanisms have suffered signi
cant change and the threat to life is thereby
intensi
ed (Nazaretyan 2004; Podlazov 2001; Shahramantyan 2003). This is mainly
connected with growth and spreading of the amplitude of anthropogenic changes in
the environment. Numerous studies of the problems that have cropped up in recent
years showed that the frequency and the power of disastrous natural phenomena is
growing and is posing increased risk of greater losses of human lifes, economic
losses, and breaches of the social infrastructure. For instance, only in 2001 about 650
natural catastrophes occurred in the world. These natural catastrophes took away the
lifes of more than 25 thousands of people and caused an economic damage of more
than US$ 35 bn. The overall picture of the last years is dominated by the accumu-
lation of severe earthquakes to an extent seldom experienced in recent decades.
Several major catastrophes in 2010 resulted in substantial losses and in an excep-
tionally high number of fatalities. Altogether, 950 natural catastrophes were
recorded, nine-tenths of which were weather-related events like storms and
oods.
According to this total, 2010 has been the year with the second-highest number of
natural catastrophes since 1980, markedly exceeding the annual average for the last
10 years (785 events per year). The overall losses amounted to around US$ 130 bn, of
which approximately US$ 37 bn was insured. This puts 2010 among the six most
loss-intensive years for the insurance industry since 1980. The level of overall losses
was slightly above the high average of the past 10 years. Year 2011 continues this
tendency. An exceptional accumulation of very severe natural catastrophes makes
2011 the highest-ever loss year on record, even after the
fl
first half-year. Unfortu-
nately, there is no reliable prognosis of the future level of global natural disasters.
Such factors are mainly functions of the readiness of the territory to reduce the
risk of the losses and greatly change at time. In 2002, for example, there were 700
signi
cant catastrophes causing the death of 11,000 people and an economic
damage of US$ 55 bn. The greatest loss was caused by
floods. The spatial distri-
bution of the catastrophes showed a typical strong spottiness (i.e., unevenness). For
example, the list of human victims in 2002 is characterized by the following factors:
Africa
fl
a number of the catastrophes 51 (661 deaths), America
181 (825), Asia
—
—
—
261 (8,570), Australia and Oceania
136 (459) (Bondur et al.
2009). Subsequent years are also characterized by numerous human victims and
economic losses. For example, 354 natural disasters took place during 2008 and as
a result 236,000 people died and 211,628,186 were affected. This compares to the
average for 2000
69 (61), Europe
—
—
2007 of 397 natural disasters, with 66,812 deaths and a total of
231,588,104 people affected.
Natural catastrophes can be divided into different categories. Environmental
phenomena that kill and displace thousands of people who are essential to the
economy of a given region are classi
-
ed as large natural catastrophes. It thus
follows that the scale of natural catastrophes depends on the level of the economic
development of the region, which de
nes the degree of protection of population
from disastrous natural phenomena. So, the study of a phenomenon, in accordance
with the natural catastrophes, must be accompanied by the analysis of a poverty
level for the population of given region. The results of studies during the last
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