Each year, natural and manmade disasters affect millions of people worldwide, causing countless injuries and deaths and costing billions of dollars. During the past month alone, severe drought and flooding have impacted nearly 7.5 million people in Bolivia, Indonesia, Madagascar, Somalia, Kenya and Ethiopia. In Bangladesh, nearly 100,000 are coping with a deadly wave of extreme cold weather that has already killed 130 people. Three years ago, a summer heat wave claimed over 52,000 lives in Europe.
Trends in Natural Disasters
http://maps.grida.no/go/graphic/trends_in_natural_disasters
Map Designer: Emmanuelle Bournay, UNEP/GRID-Arendal
Disasters and Development
Although natural and manmade disasters occur in all countries regardless of income or size, not all governments have the resources necessary for prevention and emergency response. For those regions already battling widespread poverty, disease, and malnutrition, disasters are a significant constraint on social and economic development. Understanding the trends that describe disasters through time and space is very important, particularly in light of climate change, which threatens to alter both the distribution and severity of disasters worldwide.
http://maps.grida.no/go/graphic/global_costs_of_extreme_weather_events
Map Designer: Emmanuelle Bournay, UNEP/GRID-Arendal
The EM-DAT Emergency Disasters Database
The EM-DAT Emergency Disasters Database, maintained by the WHO Collaborating Centre for Research on the Epidemiology of Disasters (CRED), provides access to useful information concerning both natural and manmade disasters. Data extend throughout most of the 20th century and include but are not limited to disasters such as famine, wind storms, extreme temperature, industrial accidents, drought, and earthquakes. In addition to viewing the date and frequency of particular disaster types by country or region, the EM-DAT Database also generates the number of people affected, injured or killed and the estimated financial damage.
RELATED LINKS:
World Health Organization: Health Action in Crises
The United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR)
The Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF)
NASA's Natural Disaster Reference Database
EarthTrends
News Post: Drought in Indonesia Could Intensify with Global Warming
