By Lisa Schlein
Geneva
14 October 2009
and property when natural disasters strike. To mark the International Day for Disaster
Reduction, the United Nations urges countries to take the actions needed to lessen the
impacts of hazards.
everywhere. In just the past few weeks, the world has
witnessed the destructive power of earthquakes in
Indonesia, typhoons in the Philippines and the tsunami that
struck Samoa and neighbouring islands.
A study by the Center for Research on the Epidemiology of
Disasters finds that, between 1980 and 2007, nearly 8,400
natural disasters killed more than two-million people. These
catastrophic events caused more than $1.5 trillion in
economic losses.
U.N. Meteorologist Geoffrey Love says that is the bad news.
"Over the last 50 years, economic losses have increased by
a factor of 50. That sounds pretty horrendous, but the loss
of life has decreased by a factor of 10 simply because we
are getting better at warning people. We are making a
that they may not be disasters."
Love, who is director of Weather and Disaster Risk Reduction at the World Meteorological
Organization, says most of the deaths and economic losses were caused by weather,
climate, or water-related extremes. These include droughts, floods, windstorms, tropical
cyclones and wildfires.
He says extreme events will continue. But, he says extreme events become disasters only
when people fail to prepare for them.
"Many of the remedies are well-known. From a planning perspective, it is pretty simple.
Build resilient buildings. Do not build where the hazards will destroy them," said Love.
"From an early-warning perspective, make sure the warnings go right down to the
community level. Build on community education. Build community action plans."
The World Meteorological Organization points to Cuba and Bangladesh as examples of
countries that have successfully reduced the loss of life caused by natural disasters by
taking preventive action.
It says tropical cyclones formerly claimed dozens, if not hundreds of lives, each year, in
residents home covered in mud
from landslides brought by
Typhoon Morakot in the village of
Chishan, in Kaohsiung county,
southern Taiwan, 14 Aug 2009
