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Chapter 3: Regional Characteristics of Natural Disasters
3.1 Proportion of Natural Disasters by Region

As in the previous year, Asia accounted for most of the devastating disasters that occurred in2007 (34.6%, a decrease from 40.0% in 2006), followed by Africa (23.4%; a decrease from 27.8% in 2006),
the Americas (23.0%; an increase from 14.9% in 2006), Europe (16.5%; an increase from 13.6% in 2006),
and Oceania (2.6%; a marginal decrease from 3.7% in 2006). Although the 2007 disaster trends look
similar to those for 2004, 2005 and 2006, their impacts in terms of human and economic losses weredifferent. Figure 30A summarizes the 2007 data visually. Figure 30B summarizes the world data by type ofdisaster. According to Figure 30 B, majority of the disasters in 2007 were floods and wind storms (71.7%)
followed by epidemics, extreme temperatures, earthquakes, wildfires, slides and drought respectively.

Figure 30A:

Number of Disasters (World/Region) 2007

Europe16.47%

Oceania
2.55%

Africa23.43%

Americas22.97%

Asia
34.57%TOTAL = 431

Source: CRED-EMDAT, Université Catholique de Louvain, Brussels, Belgium, 2007

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Figure 30B:

Number of Disasters (World/Disaster Type) 2007
Wave / Surge
0.7%

Drought
2.3%

Extreme temp
5.6%

Earthquake
4.4%
Epidemic
7.4%

Wind storm
23.9%

Wild fire
4.2%
Volcano
1.4%

Flood
47.8%

Slide
2.3%

TOTAL = 431

Source: CRED-EMDAT, Université Catholique de Louvain, Brussels, Belgium, 2007

As can be seen in Figure 31A, the majority of people killed by natural disasters in the year 2007
lived in Asia, which accounted for 60.0% of the total number of people killed by disasters worldwide(almost similar percentage of 59.2% when compared to the previous year 2006). As in the previous years,
year 2007 disasters victims in Asia are mainly due to the catastrophic floods and windstorms that struck
India, Bangladesh, and China, in Asia. Another significant region is Africa, which accounted for 25.0% of
the people killed in 2007 (almost similar percentage of 26.1% when compared to the previous year 2006).
This is due to the flood, epidemic, windstorms and drought disasters occurred in Africa in 2007. The
number of people killed in Europe decreased from 12.4% in 2006 to 4.8% in 2007. European disastervictims are mainly from the extreme temperature conditions and floods that prevailed in Europe in 2007.
The Americas instead saw an increase in people killed, from 2.3% in 2006 to 9.2% in 2007. This is due tothe floods in the South American regions. Oceania registered marginal increase in the number of people
killed by natural disasters in 2007 from the previous year 2006. The heavy death toll in Asia caused by the
Asian Disaster in 2007 makes other regions’ figures look smaller in 2007 as in the previous years of 2006
and 2005. Floods, windstorms and epidemic were responsible for the majority of the death toll worldwide(90%), followed by extreme temperature, and earthquakes, as shown in Figure 31B.

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Figure 31A;

Number of Killed (World/Region) 2007
Europe4.77%

Oceania
1.07%

Africa25.04%

aAmericas
9.19%

Asia
59.92%TOTAL = 21,911 People
Source: CRED-EMDAT, Université Catholique de Louvain, Brussels, Belgium, 2007

Figure 31B:

Number of Killed (World/Disaster Type) 2007

Extreme temp
4.6%

Wave / Surge
0.3%

Wind storm
27.2%

Earthquake
3.0%
Epidemic
24.7%

Wild fire
0.7%
Slide
1.2%

Flood
38.3%

TOTAL = 21,911 People

Source: CRED-EMDAT, Université Catholique de Louvain, Brussels, Belgium, 2007

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The number of total affected people increased from 135.1 million in 2006 to 198.2 million in2007. As shown in Figure 32A, the Asian region accounted for the highest percentage of total affected
people, with 90.7% in 2007. This is an increase from the previous year’s 88.9%. The real number of total
affected people in Asia this year 2007 (179.8 million people) has also increased by 49.8% from theprevious year 2006 (120 million people). In addition to the disasters which affected many people in Asia,
other disasters in other parts of the world, especially Africa and America, also had a significant impact in2007. The number of total affected people in every region worldwide increased significantly over previous
year 2006 except Africa which registered a decrease in 2007 (9.3 million people) over previous year 2006
(13.4 million people). Nevertheless, the trend clearly reflects Asia's continued vulnerability to natural
hazards. Figure 32B shows the percentages of total affected people by disaster type. Hydro-meteorologicaldisasters, such as floods, wind storms, and droughts had a significant impact (almost 95%) on people
worldwide.

Figure 32A:

Number of Total Affected People(World/Region) 2007
Oceania0.08%

Africa4.69%
Americas
3.80%Europe0.72%

Asia90.72%TOTAL = 198 Million People

Source: CRED-EMDAT, Université Catholique de Louvain, Brussels, Belgium, 2007

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Figure 32B:

Number of Total Affected People (World/Disaster Type) 2007
Extreme temp
0.5%

Drought
2.6%
Earthquake
0.6%

Wind storm
12.1%

Epidemic
0.2%

Wild fire
0.9%

Flood
83.1%

TOTAL = 198 Million People

Source: CRED-EMDAT, Université Catholique de Louvain, Brussels, Belgium, 2007

In contrast to previous years, Asia accounted for less than half (47.2%) of the economic damage
caused by natural disasters in 2007 (Figure 33A). This is damage is also mainly due to the impact ofEarthquake in Japan, windstorm and floods in India, Bangladesh and China in 2007. Asia accounted for lesseconomic damage in 2007 (47.2%) than in the previous year (in 2006, it was 71.1%), a considerable
decrease by 50.6% from 2006. The Europe (29.2%) accounted for the next highest level of economic losses
in 2007. This is due to wind storms and floods in Europe, especially in UK. This is followed by Americas
with 19.3% (in 2005, it was the highest at 85.6% due to Cyclones Katrina Wilma and others, and in 2006
also it was big with 14.7% of the total world damage). Americas’ 2007 economic damage is mainly fromwindstorms of the USA and Mexico, and the USA bushfire. Figure 33B shows the amount of damage
worldwide for 2007 by disaster type. Wind storms and floods were the leading causes of damage worldwide,
followed by earthquakes. The socio-economic structure of these regions and the disaster occurrences andcountermeasures could be attributed to these trends. All other regions accounted for much less of theeconomic damage sustained in 2007. It is also noteworthy to mention that overall damage tremendously
increased by about 217% from the previous year 2006, from US$19.8 billion to US$62.7 billion. This
entirely due to the damage caused by disasters in the high income and developed countries worldwide suchas USA, Japan, Australia and the region Europe.

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Figure 33A:

Amount of Damage (World/Region) 2007

Oceania
3.25%

Africa0.93%

Americas19.35%

Europe29.22%

Asia
47.24%TOTAL = 62.7 Billion US$

Source: CRED-EMDAT, Université Catholique de Louvain, Brussels, Belgium, 2007

Figure 33B:

Amount of Damage (World/Disaster Type) 2007

Earthquake
20.68%
Wind storm
38%

Flood
34.60%
Wild fire
5.55%

TOTAL = 62.7 Billion US$

Source: CRED-EMDAT, Université Catholique de Louvain, Brussels, Belgium, 2007

These figures indisputably demonstrate that the disaster vulnerability of the Asian region cannot
be neglected in relation to global sustainable development and the need of stronger disastercountermeasures.

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3.2 Natural Disasters around the World

3.2.1 Characteristics of Disasters in Africa

About 73% of the natural disasters that occurred in Africa in 2007 from hydro-meteoreologicaldisasters such as floods, windstorms and droughts (Figure 34). Furthermore, the majority of the humanlosses (80.8%) in Africa were due to epidemics alone and followed by floods, and windstorms (Figure 35).
Meanwhile, the majority of people affected by disasters in Africa were affected by floods and droughts,
which account for 94.6% of the total affected people in Africa 2007 (Figure 36). A slightly different patern
was seen in the previous year 2006, when droughts accounted for almost 81% of the people affected while
floods accounted for 16% of the people affected. In addirion to these, windstorms and epidemics also
contributed to the total affected population in Africa in 2007. Zambia, Sudan, Malawi, Tanzania, Togo andMozambique were severely hit by floods, drought and epidemics. It is interesting to note, however,according to the available 2007 data, that all of the economic damage sustained in Africa was caused byflooding and winstorms in 2007 almost similar to the previous year 2006 (Figure 37). This year, economic
damage (584 ｍillion US$) in Africa, significantly increased from year 2006 (158 ｍillion US$) by 270%.

Figure 34:

Number of Disasters Occurred in Africa(Disaster Type) (2007)

Wild fire
4.0%

Extreme temp
1.0%Wind storm
8.9%

Wave / Surge
1.0%

Drought
5.9%
Epidemic
18.8%

Volcano
1.0%
Slide
1.0%

Flood
58.4%

TOTAL = 101

Source: CRED-EMDAT, Université Catholique de Louvain, Brussels, Belgium, 2007

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Figure 35:

Number of People Killed in Africa(Disaster Type) (2007)

Volcano0.1%

Wild fire
0.7%

Wind storm
2.0%

Slide
0.4%

Wave / Surge
0.2%
Extreme temp
0.2%

Flood
15.6%

Epidemic
80.8%

TOTAL = 5,487 People

Source: CRED-EMDAT, Université Catholique de Louvain, Brussels, Belgium, 2007

Figure 36:

Number of Total Affected People in Africa(Disaster Type) (2007)

Wind storm
4.2%

Drought
43.8%

Flood
50.8%

Epidemic
1.2%

TOTAL = 9,285,954 People

Source: CRED-EMDAT, Université Catholique de Louvain, Brussels, Belgium, 2007

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Figure 37:

Amount of Damage in Africa (Disaster Type) (2007)

Wind storm
41.3%

Flood
58.7%

TOTAL = 584 Million US $Source: CRED-EMDAT, Université Catholique de Louvain, Brussels, Belgium, 2007

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Chapter 3

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3.2.2 Characteristics of Disasters in the Americas

In the Americas which includes the countries of North and South America, floods, and windstorms
accounted for the vast majority (almost 76%) of natural disasters that occurred in 2007 as it was in theprevious year 2006 which was a devastating year to this region. Earthquakes, extreme temperatures,
wildfire, drought, slides and volcano eruptions also created devastation in the Americas in 2007. In terms ofhuman loss, about 94% of people killed were by windstorms, floods, and earthquakes. Nearly 45% of thepeople affected were affected by floods alone and the rest is mainly from wind storms, extreme
temperatures, wildfires, drought and earthquakes in 2007. The majority of the economic damage sustained(79.2%) was caused by windstorms and floods in 2007 followed by wildfire with 20.8%. In 2005 and 2006,
severe damage was caused by the historic cyclones that rocked United States. Severe damage was inflicted
in 2007 by floods and windstorms that hit the South American countries Mexico and Peru and wildfires inUSA. Figures 38 to 41 show that the Americas were visited by significant hydro-meteorological disasters in
2007, as they had been in previous years. Overall the human and economic losses have significantly
increased in the Americas in 2007 in comparison to the previous year 2006 (killed people increased by
221.56% from 626 people in 2006 to 2013 people in 2007, total affected population by 423.3% from 1.44
million people to 7.55 million people and economic damage by 315.8% 2.92 billion dollars to 12.14 billion
dollars).

Figure 38:

Number of Disasters Occurred in Americas(Disaster Type) (2007)
Drought
3.0%
Extreme temp
5.1%

Earthquake
8.1%

Epidemic
1.0%

Wind storm
37.4%
Flood
38.4%
Wild fire
4.0%
Volcano
1.0%

Slide
2.0%

TOTAL = 99

Source: CRED-EMDAT, Université Catholique de Louvain, Brussels, Belgium, 2007

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Figure 39:

Number of People Killed in Americas(Disaster Types) (2007)

Wind storm
34.7%

Extreme temp
4.1%

Earthquake
26.4%

Wild fire
0.8%

Slide
0.8%

Flood
33.1%

TOTAL = 2,013 People

Source: CRED-EMDAT, Université Catholique de Louvain, Brussels, Belgium, 2007

Figure 40:

Number of Total Affected People in Americas(Disaster Type) (2007)

Wind storm
12.5%

Extreme temp
11.7%

Drought
13%
Earthquake
6.7%

Wild fire
10.3%

Flood
45.3%

TOTAL = 7,533,618 People

Source: CRED-EMDAT, Université Catholique de Louvain, Brussels, Belgium, 2007

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Chapter 3

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Figure 41:

Amount of Damage in Americas (Disaster Type) (2007)
Flood
28.4%

Wind storm
50.8%
Wild fire
20.8%

TOTAL = 12.1 Billion US$

Source: CRED-EMDAT, Université Catholique de Louvain, Brussels, Belgium, 2007

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Chapter 3

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3.2.3 Characteristics of Disasters in Asia

An earlier chapter demonstrated the high vulnerability of the Asian region to natural disasters. The
same trend will be observed here. About 75% of the disasters in Asia consisted of wind storms and floods,
followed by epidemic (6.7%), earthquake (6%) and slides (4.7%) (Figure 42). It is worth noting thatwindstorms and floods in Bangladesh, India and China caused considerable human losses (about 89%) in
Asia, followed by epidemics, extreme temperatures and slides (Figure 43). Figure 44 shows that floods
alone caused almost 87% of the human sufferings in Asia and followed by wind storms, as these accounted
for almost all the people affected by natural disasters in the region in 2007. Furthermore, about 44% of theeconomic damage in 2007 in Asia came from the earthquake in Japan (Niigata) and rest of the damage ismainly from windstorms and floods (almost 56%) (Figure 45). Clearly, the Asian region is severely
disaster-prone and vulnerable to both hydro-meteorological and geophysical disasters. The following
figures highlight these trends. Though the number of disasters decresed, human sufferings (specially total
affected people) and economic damages caused by these Asian natural disasters significantly increased in2007 from year 2006 (killed people decreased by 18.7% from 16,151 people in 2006 to 13,130 people in2007, total affected population increased by 49.8% from 120.0 million people to 179.8 million people andeconomic damage increased by 109.9% 14.1 billion dollars to 29.6 billion dollars) .

Figure 42:

Number of Disasters Occurred in Asia
(Disaster Type) 2007
Wave / Surge
0.7%

Wind storm
19.5%

Extreme temp
2.7%

Drought
0.7%

Earthquake
6.0%
Epidemic
6.7%

Wild fire
0.7%
Volcano
2.7%
Slide
4.7%

TOTAL = 149

Flood
55.7%

Source: CRED-EMDAT, Université Catholique de Louvain, Brussels, Belgium, 2007

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Figure 43:

Number of People Killed in Asia (Disaster Type) 2007

Extreme temp
2.4%

Earthquake
0.9%

Epidemic
6.1%

Wind storm
37.5%

Flood
51.4%
Slide
1.7%

TOTAL = 13,130 People

Source: CRED-EMDAT, Université Catholique de Louvain, Brussels, Belgium, 2007

Figure 44:

Number of Total Affected People in Asia
(Disaster Type) 2007
Earthquake
0.4%

Epidemic
0.2%

Wind storm
12.5%

Flood
86.8%

TOTAL = 179.8 Million People

Source: CRED-EMDAT, Université Catholique de Louvain, Brussels, Belgium, 2007

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Figure 45:

Amount of Damage in Asia (Disaster Type) 2007
Earthquake
43.8%

Wind storm
30.7%

Flood
25.5%

TOTAL = 29.6 Billion US$

Source: CRED-EMDAT, Université Catholique de Louvain, Brussels, Belgium, 2007

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Chapter 3

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3.2.4 Characteristics of Disasters in Europe

Similar to the previous year, in 2007, floods, windstorms, and extreme temperatures caused
havoc in Europe. The majority of disasters in 2007 were floods, windstorms and extreme temperatures,accounting for 83% of all disasters (Figure 46). The majority of human losses were due to extreme
temperatures (58%), followed by epidemics, wildfires, floods and windstorms (Figure 47). Furthermore,
70% of the total affected people were affected by wildfire disaster in Europe (mainly from Macedonia)(Figure 48), in contrast to 2006 which saw floods and extreme temperatures affecting majority of thepeople in the region. Floods and winstorms in UK, Germany, Netherlands, Belgium and Austria contributed
significantly to the human losses and economic damage in this region in 2007 (Figure 49). In 2004,
droughts created heavy economic losses in the region, but in 2005 and 2006 floods caused severe economic
damage in the region. The year 2007 was a rather tumultuous one for Europe, which once again sustained
significant damage caused by hydro-meteorological disasters. The economic damage in 2007 (18.3 billion
US$) has also significantly increased from previous year (1.45 billion US$).

Figure 46:

Number of Disasters Occurred in Europe(Disaster Type) (2007)
Earthquake
1.4%

Epidemic
2.8%

Extreme temp
19.7%

Flood
32.4%

Wind storm
31.0%

Wild fire
12.7%

TOTAL = 71

Source: CRED-EMDAT, Université Catholique de Louvain, Brussels, Belgium, 2007

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Figure 47:

Number of People Killed in Europe (Disaster Type) (2007)

Earthquake
0.2%

Epidemic
16.4%
Flood
9.1%

Wild fire
9.3%
Extreme temp
57.8%

Wind storm
7.2%

TOTAL = 1,046 People

Source: CRED-EMDAT, Université Catholique de Louvain, Brussels, Belgium, 2007

Figure 48:

Number of Total Affected People in Europe(Disaster Type) (2007)
Wind storm
0.7%

Flood
28.9%

Wild fire
70.4%

TOTAL = 1,429,120 People

Source: CRED-EMDAT, Université Catholique de Louvain, Brussels, Belgium, 2007

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Figure 49:

Amount of Damage in Europe (Disaster Type) (2007)

Wind storm
47.9%

Flood
47.0%

Wild fire
5.2%

TOTAL = 18 Billion US$

Source: CRED-EMDAT, Université Catholique de Louvain, Brussels, Belgium, 2007

3.2.5 Characteristics of Disasters in Oceania

Disaster trends in Oceania were a bit different from those of other regions in previous years as wellas in the year 2007, as the natural disasters strayed from the average regional pattern. Not all types ofnatural disasters occurred here, but the majority that did occur was wind storms, and floods accounting for
82% of the total. The remainder consisted of wave/surge, and earthquake (Figure 50). The majority ofhuman losses were due to windstorms (71%), followed by wave/surge and floods (Figure 51). This was dueto the windstorms that sruck Fiji and Papua New Guinea, the tsunami that struck Solomon Islands, andfloods in Australia, Fiji and Papua New Guniea. The total affected people in Oceania in 2007 were largely
affected by floods and windstorms in Papua New Guinea, Fiji and Australia (98%), and wave/surge(tsunami) in Solomon Islands (Figure 52). This unusual picture is due to severe wind storms that hit
Australia and the nearby small pacific island countries in Oceania, and tsunami in Solomon Islands. The
majority of the economic damage was caused by floods in Australia (85%), and windstorms (15%) mainly
from Australia, and pacific island countries as shown in Figure 53.

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Figure 50:

Number of Disasters Occurred in Oceania(Disaster Type) (2007)
Earthquake
9.1%

Wave / Surge
9.1%

Flood
27.3%

Wind storm
54.5%

TOTAL = 11

Source: CRED-EMDAT, Université Catholique de Louvain, Brussels, Belgium, 2007

Figure 51:

Number of People Killed in Oceania (Disaster Type) (2007)

Wave / Surge
22.1%

Earthquake
0.4%

Flood
6.4%

Wind storm
71.1%

TOTAL = 235 People

Source: CRED-EMDAT, Université Catholique de Louvain, Brussels, Belgium, 2007

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Chapter 3

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Figure 52:

Number of Total Affected People in Oceania(Disaster Type) (2007)
Flood
3.9%

Wave / Surge
1.6%

Wind storm
94.5%

TOTAL = 151,985 People

Source: CRED-EMDAT, Université Catholique de Louvain, Brussels, Belgium, 2007

Figure 53:

Amount of Damage in Oceania (Disaster Type) (2007)

Wind storm
14.8%

Flood
85.2%

TOTAL = 2.04 Billion US$

Source: CRED-EMDAT, Université Catholique de Louvain, Brussels, Belgium, 2007

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Chapter 3

ADRC-Natural Disasters Data Book-2007

This section summarizes worldwide natural disaster patterns by region. Tables 2B and 3B in
Chapter 1 also provide these figures in a tabulated form. Regions all over the world, including Oceania,
experienced both hydro-meteorological and geo-physical disasters in 2007. The most significant human andeconomic losses resulted from the floods and windstorms that hit India, Bangladesh, China, Australia,
Papua New Guinea and many parts of Europe, earthquake and tsunami that hit Japan and Solomon Islands,
and wildfires that hit USA respectively. Droughts and floods along with epidemic made havoc in Africa.
The data shown here clearly demonstrates that Asia is a disaster-prone region of the world that sustains
considerable levels of human losses and suffering. The most severe disasters of 2007, such as earthquake inJapan; floods in China; windstorms and floods in India and Bangladesh, occurred in the Asian region.
Natural disasters deprive the affected populations of the benefits of socio-economic development, andhinder progress toward sustainable economic development - in disaster-prone regions and all over the globe.
This is once again evident from this chapter.

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