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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Floods recede, tab on outbreak of diseases
Floods in Ratnapura and Kalutara districts have eased but authorities warned of mosquito and water-borne diseases. "Polluted drinking water is the main problem in flood affected areas, while several measures have been taken by Divisional Secretariats in these areas to control the spread of disease," sources said. A team of officers from the National Building Research Organisation (NBRO) would make a visit today to report on the situation that has arisen due to the floods in Ratnapura district, the Officer of Ratnapura District Disaster Management Centre said.
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Thousands rendered homeless in Myanmar
More than 350 persons died in Myanmar after a powerful cyclone
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Thousands Evacuated As Chile Volcano Spews Ash
Covered in thick ash, the Patagonian community of Chaiten was a ghost town on Saturday as a volcano spewed ash a day after its first eruption in thousands of years forced nearly 4,500 people to flee. Authorities have evacuated most of the southern Chilean town's residents since Friday, sending many by boat to Chiloe Island farther north and to Puerto Montt on the mainland. Some are staying in guesthouses, while schools have been turned into makeshift shelters packed with stores of bottled water after a blanket of volcanic ash contaminated ground water.
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Over 350 Dead As Cyclone Devastates Myanmar
A cyclone killed more than 350 people in military-ruled Myanmar, ripping through Yangon and the Irrawaddy delta where it flattened at least two towns, officials and state media said on Sunday. The death toll is likely to climb as the authorities manage to contact outlying islands and villages that felt the full force of Cyclone Nagris, a Category 3 storm packing winds of 190 km (120 miles) per hour when it hit early on Saturday.
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Cyclone kills at least 350 in Burma
More than 350 people have been killed in Burma by a powerful cyclone that knocked out power in the impoverished country's commercial capital and destroyed thousands of homes, state-run media said today. Military-run Myaddy television station said five regions have been declared disaster zones following yesterday's storm, which packed winds of up to 190 km/h. It said at least 351 people were killed by Tropical Cyclone Nargis, including 109 who lived on Haing Gyi island off the country's south-west coast. Many of the others died in the low-lying Irrawaddy delta.
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Most of the tsunami victims still live in shacks
Over three years after the tsunami nearly flattened parts of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, rehabilitation work is still on. Its progress seems slower than in other parts of the country. A scene from the picturesque Bamboo Flat permanent tenements is representative of the work in the entire archipelago. Completed houses, papered with expensive bamboo patterns, stand beside blocks of cement sticking out of wet mud
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5 killed as storms lash capital, dists
Powerful storms swept across a number of places of the country including Dhaka, Mymensingh, Rangpur, Sherpur, Jamalpur and Gaibandha on Thurday and Friday evening killing five people and causing damage to dwellings and standing crops. In the capital, rickshaw-puller Almas (40) died after a tree fell on him during the nor'wester on Friday evening in the Tejgaon industrial area. Almas, a resident of Tejgaon slums died after being taken to Dhaka Medical College Hospital.
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Becoming an Asian tiger
Quite often we refer to certain countries in Southeast Asia as 'emerging tigers'. Their economies and their progressive economic development are analysed and extolled for their performance. Such an approach also draws our attention not only to the manner in which such countries identified the weaknesses within their development paradigm but also how such measures to overcome challenges subsequently facilitated foreign direct investment.
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Volcano eruption on Argentina-Chile border forces evacuations
Some 1,500 people were evacuated late Friday as the Chaiten volcano in southern Chile erupted, hurling hot rocks and belching clouds of ash into the sky. The thick clouds of ash that covered the region also spread to towns in the southern Argentine province of Chubut, where authorities closed schools and issued warnings due to low visibility on some roads. Yet despite the fireworks at the volcano, located some 1,300 kilometers (808 miles) south of Santiago, there were no reports of casualties or damage, Chile's Office of National Emergencies reported.
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Floods, landslides affect 65,000 people
The number of people affected by floods and landslides over the past few days has topped the 65,000 mark with 26,797 affected in Gampaha alone, the Disaster Management Centre (DMC) said yesterday. According to the DMC 67,498 people have been affected by the floods and landslides as of yesterday with 17,180 affected in Ratnapura, 2,969 affected in Kalutara, 26,797 in Gampaha, 15,664 in Colombo, 255 in Puttalam, 4,425 in Kegalle and 208 in Nuwar Eliya. There have been eight deaths reported so far and one person missing while 1,350 people have been housed in IDP camps.