2024 Disasters in Numbers
<p>In 2024, the Emergency Events Database (EM-DAT) recorded 393 natural hazard-related disasters. These events caused 16,753 fatalities and affected 167.2 million people. Economic losses totaled US$241.95
Natural Disasters
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Cyclone claims 1 at Dhekiajuli
DHEKIAJULI
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Fire dept officials get international training in rapid flood management
The Mumbai Fire Brigade is preparing itself to handle rescue operations all over the city in case of an emergency arising this monsoon. For the first time ever, 10 firemen went to the scenic town of Kolad, about 150 km away from Mumbai on the Goa Highway last week, to attend a course in flash flood management organised by a Canada-based NGO International Rescue Instructor's Authority (IRIA). Experts James Lavelly from Canada and Jeremy Hunter from UK trained the firemen in disaster management, in-commandant support and actual water rescue in the rough river waters of Kolad .
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Tornadoes kill 18 in Missouri, Oklahoma
At least 18 people were killed on Saturday in Missouri and Oklahoma after tornadoes swept through the area, authorities in the two states said. There were at least 12 storm-related deaths in Missouri, 10 of those in Newton County on the border with Oklahoma, according to Susie Stonner of the Missouri Emergency Management Agency.
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UNICEF health official says aid is desperately needed
Aid is desperately needed in hard-to-reach parts of Myanmar devastated by the recent cyclone, which triggered huge waves that in some areas swept away more than 90 percent of dwellings and left as many as 90 percent of residents dead or missing, a UNICEF official said Sunday. Osamu Kunii, chief of health and nutrition at UNICEF's office in Yangon, Myanmar's largest city, described the dire situation faced by Cyclone Nargis survivors in the Ayeyarwady delta region of southwestern Myanmar in a telephone interview.
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Fukuda wants U.N. in Myanmar
Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda has told a U.S. newspaper that he expects the United Nations to "more actively intervene" to help cyclone-hit Myanmar at a time when the military government is reluctant to accept troops from other countries, according to a government official. While noting that the United States is showing "great consideration" by preparing to deploy troops to help Myanmar, Fukuda was quoted as telling the Washington Post on Saturday, "But is it OK to forcibly go there when the (Myanmar) government doesn't want it and what if some conflict occurs?
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More Than 20 Are Killed in Storms
Emergency crews searched through wreckage on Sunday from violent storms that left a path of destruction from the Midwest to the South and killed more than 20 people in Missouri, Oklahoma and Georgia. . In Missouri, tornadoes tore through small towns in the southwestern section of the state, near the border with Oklahoma, just after 6:30 p.m. Saturday, overturning cars and smashing buildings.
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Powerful Earthquake Hits China
An earthquake with a magnitude of 7.5 struck China's Sichuan province on Monday, less than 100 km (60 miles) from the provincial capital of Chengdu. The quake was felt across much of China and as far southwest as Bangkok, Thailand's capital, some 3,300 km (2050 miles) away, where office buildings swayed for several minutes. Chengdu a fast-growing metropolis of 10 million people and home to the Giant Panda Breeding Research Base is around 1,300 km (2070 miles) southwest of Beijing.
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Deadly 7.8 quake rocks western China
A powerful, magnitude 7.8 earthquake struck mountainous central China on Monday, killing five people when two primary schools and a water tower collapsed, state media reported. Four children died when their schools in Chongqing municipality collapsed, the official Xinhua News Agency said. More than 100 students were injured, including two who were seriously hurt, the report said. One person was killed after the temblor toppled a water tower in neighboring Sichuan province, Xinhua said.
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Tornado season deadliest in a decade
The USA has been ravaged through mid-May by a near-record number of tornadoes that has pushed the death toll