Geoscience Reference
In-Depth Information
Significant deaths due to drought or famine
10000000
1000000
100000
10000
1000
100
10
1900
1920
1940
1960
1980
2000
Year
Deaths from natural hazards over time 1900-2001 (based on CRED, 2002).
Fig. 1.3
deaths, more than could be attributed to this cause
during the whole of the twentieth century. Obviously,
the statistics presented in Table 1.3 underestimate
actual deaths, mainly because data were simply not
collected for some hazards until recent times.
Table 1.3 also presents the number of injured and
displaced people due to natural catastrophes in the
twentieth century. Often hazard statistics concentrate
upon death, not taking into account the walking
wounded and the homeless who put a greater, more
lasting burden, upon society. Eighteen times more
people were made homeless by floods in the twentieth
century than were killed. This ratio rises to 30 and
344 times respectively for tropical cyclones and extra-
tropical storms. For example, the January 1998 ice
storm that paralyzed Montreal killed twenty-five people.
However up to 100 000 people were made homeless
for up to a month afterwards because of the failure of
electricity supplies as temperatures dipped to -40°C.
Number of people killed, injured or displaced due to natural hazards during the twentieth century (based on WHO, 2002).
Table 1.3
Type of Hazard
Deaths
Injuries
Homeless
Largest death toll event and date
Death toll
Floods
6 851 740
1 033 572
123 009 662
China, July 1931
3 700 000
Earthquakes
1 816 119
1 147 676
8 953 296
Tangshan, China, July 1976
242 000
Tropical cyclones
1 147 877
906 311
34 272 470
Bangladesh, Nov 1970
300 000
Volcano
96 770
11 154
197 790
Martinique, May 1902
30 000
Landslides,
avalanches,
mud flows
60 501
8 071
3 759 329
Soviet Union, 1949
12 000
Extra-tropical storms
36 681
117 925
12 606 891
Northern Europe, Feb 1953
4 000
Heat wave
14 732
1 364
0
India, May 1998
2 541
Tsunami
10 754
789
-
Sanriku Japan, Mar 1933
3 000
Cold wave
6 807
1 307
17 340
India, Dec 1982
400
Tornado
7 917
27 887
575 511
Bangladesh, Apr 1989
800
Fires
2 503
1 658
140 776
USA, Oct 1918
1 000
Total
10 052 401
3 257 714
183 533 065
