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http://www.fijitimes.com/story.aspx?id=133791

 

Lottie still the deadliest 

Wednesday, November 18, 2009 

FIJI has been hit by 13 tropical cyclones in the past decade, the most damaging was in 2003 when 
Cyclone Ami hammered Labasa leaving 17 people dead in its wake. 

However, the country's worst death toll was in 1973 when Cyclone Lottie sank two ships off 
western Fiji. 

About 70 people were killed in the disaster. 

This was according to a report compiled by the Centre for Excellence in Disaster Management and 
Humanitarian Assistance (COE) for the Disaster Management Exercise held in Lami. 

The economic impact of natural disasters increased significantly over the years, the report stated. 

"Economic losses associated with natural disasters are estimated to be 15 times higher than they 
were in the 1950s (adjusting for inflation) and disasters caused about $US67billion in losses each 
year from 1994 to 2003 and from 2003 to 2008, appear to be on the rise." 

The report stated disasters meant higher government expenditure and part reallocation of committed 
financial resources to meet the cost of repair.