People build wherever they can find space, including along flood-prone rivers and in flood plains. Many times, homes are poorly built of readily available materials. Even a moderate earthquake can collapse such structures. In typhoons and tsunamis, reefs and windbreaks may have been destroyed, and their natural protection is no longer available. Even man-made disasters increase as development increases.
More people mean more opportunities for things to go wrong.
We re certainly seeing a rise in the numbers of disasters happening all over the world, as development speeds up in areas such as Asia and Africa. But the regions have always been prone to disasters simply because of their large populations and the natural hazards that occur there. The plains of central Africa are prone to drought and have been for as long as people have been keeping written records. Volcanoes are very common all around this huge circle because of the movement of tectonic plates away from its center. Disaster is nothing new.