Geoscience Reference
In-Depth Information
damage from natural disasters grows (Tables 9.23 , 9.24 , 9.25 , 9.26 , 9.27 ,
Figs. 9.28 and 9.29 ). Therefore, detailed analysis of relationships between param-
eters of natural disasters and regional NSS characteristics such as infrastructure,
level of economic development, state of social order, level of people
s education
and attitude to religion are an important stage of development of a regional strategy
to meet the consequences of natural disasters.
Losses from natural disasters between 1987 and 1997 reached the level 700
billion dollars, and this means that for poor countries, meting the consequences of
natural disasters in the years to come will become an insoluble problem. For
instance, in 1998, total economic losses from natural disasters constituted 65.6
billion dollars, 66 % of them falling on developing countries. It is clear that eco-
nomic mechanisms of support to regions damaged by natural disasters should be
optimized with the real state of NSS taken into account. From estimates of the
World Bank, poverty is characterized by the following indicators:
'
one third of population in developing countries are poor, 18 % of them being
beggars;
￿
￿
about 50 % of the poor and 50 % of beggars live in South Asia;
￿
poverty prevails in rural localities;
basic means of subsistence for the poor are obtained from agriculture.
Development of infrastructure plays an important role in poverty reduction. But
it is the infrastructure that is most damaged by natural disasters. So, in Asia almost
70 % of natural disasters fall on
￿
flood causing damage estimated
recently at about 15 billion dollars, losses in agriculture contributing most.
Therefore the problem consists in reducing the risk at the expense of infrastructure
transformation. In developing countries the solution of this problem is connected
with an optimization of processes of the use of land resources and working out
strategies of ecological character. It is necessary to take into account the indicator of
the growth of population density in developing countries. The quantitative and
qualitative dynamism in the urban development
fl
oods, each
fl
leads to a super-proportional
Table 9.23 Characteristic of losses from some natural disasters in 2006 (Zanetti et al. 2007)
Natural disasters
Number of cases
Number of victims
Economic losses
(million dollars)
Total
Insurance
Earthquakes
8
5,880
241.5
80
Floods
58
7,217
2970.6
984
Storms
47
4,600
24950,9
8,265
Droughts, wild res, heat
5
2,259
362.3
120
Colds, frosts
12
1,617
4105.7
1,360
Hail
5
19
3103.4
1,028
Tsunami
1
19
3
1
Total
136
22,394
35737.4
11,838
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