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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Patagonia fears environmental damage from volcano
Volcanic ash raining down from the Chilean volcano Chaiten may cause long-term environmental damage and harm the health of people and animals in picturesque Patagonia, scientists say. Ash from the volcano, which started erupting 10 days ago for the first time in thousands of years, is made up of pulverized rock containing all kinds of minerals.
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Cyclone alters Yangon's tree-lined streets
The shady streets of Yangon, one of Asia's greenest cities, could have been changed forever by Cyclone Nargis, which knocked down many of its 100-year-old trees. People in Myanmar's biggest city fear the storm's 190 kph (120 mph) winds not only took lives but also ruined livelihoods, dealing a blow to an already fragile tourism industry. "This was such a beautiful city, but no more," said Kyaw Win, standing by his house next to Kandawgi Lake surveying fallen trees mangled with electricity pylons. "And after the trees fell, it's so hot."
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UN says 220,000 reported missing in cyclone
The number of people reported missing in the Myanmar cyclone was about 220,000, the United Nations humanitarian agency said on Sunday, warning of environmental damage, violence and mass migration. It said assessments of 55 townships in the Irrawaddy delta and other disaster areas found up to 102,000 people could have been killed in Cyclone Nargis, which struck flimsy dwellings with fierce winds and waves on the night of May 2.
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Tornadoes kill 22, injure hundreds in US
Tornadoes killed at least 22 people and injured hundreds as they ripped through communities in the central and south-eastern United States over the weekend. Authorities said 14 people died in Missouri, six in Oklahoma and two in Georgia as the storms tracked a course from the border of Kansas and Oklahoma on Saturday into Georgia on Sunday, destroying homes, overturning cars, blocking roads, downing power lines and uprooting trees.
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Hazard management awareness generated
To minimise loss of life and property during a hazard, either natural or man-made, some sort of management is necessary. Since the people in Developed Countries are conscious about hazards and have developed systematic and flawless management strategies, they are able to counteract eventual menace substantially.
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Cyclone overwhelms Myanmar doctors, disease threat
Survivors of Cyclone Nargis are overwhelming army-ruled Myanmar's crumbling health service and it faces a "worst-case scenario" of disease outbreaks unless aid is ramped up, a UN health expert said on Sunday. At a hospital in Bogalay, one of the hardest-hit Irrawaddy delta towns, local doctors were working around the clock to treat as many as 5,000 out-patients a day, Osamu Kunii of the UN children's fund said.
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Beijing warned of second earthquake
China has deployed troops to help victims of a 7.8 magnitude earthquake that struck the southwest today, with at least four children killed and 100 injured when two schools collapsed. The earthquake was so strong it was felt as far west as Thailand's capital Bangkok, some 3300km away, where office buildings swayed for several minutes. It also swayed buildings in the Taiwanese capital of Taipei, and was felt in Hong Kong. China had sent military troops to help with disaster relief work, the state-run Xinhua news agency said.
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Burma refuses aid workers entry
Burma's ruling junta was last night locked in an increasingly tense stand-off with the international community after flatly refusing to allow foreign aid workers into the country to tackle the impact of the recent cyclone disaster. Amid clear indications that between 60,000 and 100,000 people are now dead or missing in the region, the Burmese junta said it was prepared to receive offers of aid from foreign sources, including the US.
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WHO arm keeping eye on situation
WHO arm keeping eye on situation Tripti Nath The WHO South East Asia Regional Office (SEARO) is keeping itself posted of situation in cyclone-ravaged Myanmar. A control room manned by experts is gathering latest information on Nargis cyclone through communication links with the WHO country offices in Myanmar, Thailand and WHO headquarters in Geneva.
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After the cyclonic storm, the epidemic scare
A boy feeds his younger brother at a temporary shelter after fleeing cyclone-hit areas in the Irrawaddy division of Myanmar on Thursday. Here are the health questions and answers in the aftermath of cyclone Nargis that slammed Myanmar recently: What is the main health risk after the cyclone?