Host
Greg Dean
Podcast Content
The number of climate-related disasters has tripled over the past 30 years. According to the World Health Organization, almost 100,000 people die each year as a result of disasters - earthquakes, volcanoes, hurricanes, tsunamis, floods, bushfires, and droughts - and more than 150 million are affected worldwide as a result of disasters - earthquakes. Natural disasters are massive geological or weather events with a high probability of loss of life or property.
As in the case of a natural disaster, an industrial accident can also result in the loss of life and property. A disaster is an abrupt event, which invariably causes extensive destruction, extensive collateral damage, or loss of life, caused by forces other than human actions. A natural disaster can be caused by an earthquake, flood, volcanic eruption, landslide, hurricane, etc. To qualify as a disaster, it would cause deep ecological impacts and/or human losses, and often result in financial losses.
Hurricane Andrew left extensive damage, caused many deaths, as well as having billions in property damage that must be considered. The Nepal earthquake damaged or destroyed almost 900,000 buildings, caused an avalanche in the Himalayas, and left almost one million children out of school. It was the deadliest natural disaster ever recorded for Nepal.
The huge earthquake killed thousands of people and caused permanent destruction of property and lives. The earthquake created a large tsunami, which killed about 230,000 and displaced almost two million people across 14 countries in South Asia and East Africa. The storm killed about 7,000 and displaced over 4 million. An estimated 8 were killed during the single storm.
The storm surge, combined with a failure to evacuate, led to a mass death toll, which was estimated to be between 300,000 and 500,000. These excess deaths amounted to 4,645 total deaths, making the storm the second deadliest hurricane in American history, killing more American lives than both 9/11 and Katrina combined.
The official fatality count for a category four storm was 64, but scenes of destruction and stories coming out of area hospitals hinted at a far higher number. As with all catastrophes that occurred thousands of years ago, exact numbers for this particular antioch are difficult to obtain. The resulting death toll makes it tied as the tenth deadliest disaster of all time.
Based on this record, the following disasters are the deadliest ever, listed in order of lowest estimated to highest estimated deaths. This list considers only the highest estimated death toll of each disaster, then lists them accordingly.
The following disasters are considered historic due to the effect that they have on the way FEMA deals with similar future disasters. Here are some of the worst disasters worldwide you might want to keep an eye on, because if history has proven anything, it is that it can repeat itself. Instead, these are events that had profound impacts on the rest of the planet, challenging peoples perceptions about what disasters might look like, the harm it could cause, and how to react with better vision, awareness, and respect.
We all know too well that a disaster can strike at any moment, anywhere on the globe. From raging Gulf Coast hurricanes, to the tow-carrying thunderstorms of Tornado Alley, to the earth-shattering earthquakes of California, America is no stranger to deadly natural disasters. The past year alone has seen a number of devastating climate-related catastrophes across different parts of the globe, like Cyclone Idai, deadly heat waves across India, Pakistan, and Europe, and floods across Southeast Asia.
One storm left some 8000 people dead in its wake, and one epic flood carried the bodies of people up to 350 miles. The impact of Hurricane Sandy was widespread, leaving millions without power, wrecking hundreds of thousands of homes, and inflicting tens of billions of dollars in damages. This earthquake left millions dead, injured, or missing, as well as destroyed an enormous number of buildings, and also caused an accident which may have led to nuclear meltdowns.
Damages due to this and tsunami are estimated to be $10 billion. This reduction in impacts is because there have been no major catastrophic events like the 2010 earthquake in Haiti ; the 2015/2016 Indian drought ; and the 2011 earthquake and tsunami in Japan . The burden is not evenly shared, with Asia experiencing the highest impacts, accounting for 40% of the disaster events, 45% of deaths, and 74% of 95 million affected. Floods were the deadliest type of disaster, accounting for 43.5% of deaths, followed by extreme temperatures at 25% and storms at 21.5%.
Tangshan, an industrial city of around one million people at the time, suffered a shocking over 240,000 fatalities. When the smoke finally cleared, city officials estimated more than 3,000 had died from the quake and subsequent fires, over 28,000 buildings had been destroyed, and over 200,000 San Franciscans were left homeless, forced to live in temporary huts in parks across San Francisco for months while the city was rebuilt from the ashes.