Natural disasters from 1980 to 2012 An overview

No. of event : 431No. of people killed : 143,039Average killed per year            : 4,614No. of people affected             :  1,521,726,127Average affected per year       :  49,087,940Economic Damage (US$ X 1,000)                : 48,063,830Economic Damage per year (US$ X 1,000)              : 1,550,446

1. Uttarkashi Earthquake 19912. Killani Earthquake 19933. Latur Earthquake in Maharashtra  19934. Koyama Earthquake 19975. Chamoli Earthquake in Uttarakhand 19996. Super Cyclone in Orissa 19997. Bhuj Earthquake 20018. Indian Ocean Tsunami 20049. Kashmir Earthquake 200510. Barmer Floods in Rajasthan 200611. Kosi Floods in Bihar 200812. Cyclone Aila in West Bengal 200913. Cyclone Laila in Andhra Pradesh  200911. Cloudburst in Leh 201012. Thane Cyclone in Tamil Nadu and Puducherry 201112. Thane Cyclone in Tamil Nadu and Puducherry 2011 

Major disasters that struck the country in recent years

• During the last 20 years, India has experienced 10 major earthquakes that have claimed more than 35,000 lives.

• Almost 58% of our total land mass is prone to earthquakes of moderate to very high intensity.

• The Himalayan mountain range is undergoing constant geological changes (crustal movements) resulting in frequent earthquakes and landslides.

• Floods in the Indo-Gangetic – Brahmaputra plains are an annual feature.  

• Several thousands of lives have been lost, millions have been rendered homeless and 8 million hectares of crops are damaged every year.

• India receives 75% of rains during the monsoon season (June – September).

• As a result almost all the rivers carry heavy waters during this time resulting in sediment deposition, drainage congestion, invading into the main land.

• 40 million hectares of land is vulnerable to floods with about 30 million people affected by flood every year.  .

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• India has a long coastline running 7,516 km long and the entire coastal stretch is exposed to Tsunami, cyclone, Tidal waves and storm surges.

• On an average, five to six tropical cyclones strike every year, of which two or three are very severe.

• The Orissa Super Cyclone (1999) and the India Tsunami 2004 claimed thousands and thousands of human lives devastating agricultural crops and rendering lakhs and lakhs of people homeless.

• The Desert which is located in the western region of the country and the Deccan Plateau face recurring droughts due to acute shortage of rainfall.

• About 50 million people are affected annually by drought and 40 million hectares of land are prone to scanty or no rain.

• Landslides are yet another recurrent phenomenon in the hilly regions of India such as Himalayas, North-East India and Eastern and Western Ghat regions.

• The major Landslide disaster that took place was at Malpa Uttarkhand (UP) in the year 1998 when nearly 380 people were killed when massive landslides washed away the entire village.

The 2010 Leh cloudburst led to flash mudslides and flash floods that killed 196 people swept away a number of houses and public buildings.

In western countries the

massive disasters took place due to• hurrricane• Tornadoes• flashfloods

• Hurricane Katrina of 2005 Atlantic hurricane season was one of the worst disasters in US history.

• 1836 people died in the hurricane & subsequent floods.

• Total estimated damage was $81 billion (U.S. dollar)

Hurricane Sandy was the deadliest and most destructive hurricane of the 2012 Atlantic hurricane season, as well as the second-costliest hurricane in United States history.

• 285 people were killed along the path of the storm in seven countries.

• The largest earthquake recorded worldwide in the 20th century occurred in Valdivia, Chile, in 1960.

• It registered 9.5 on the Richter scale and caused 1,665 fatalities.

• A 5-meter tsunami followed the tremor and spread throughout the Pacific Ocean causing deaths and damage in California, Hawaii, Japan, the Philippines and the Samoan Islands.

• The winter snowstorm of 1993 was the heaviest storm of the 20th century.

• Warm air from the Gulf of Mexico clashed with freezing temperatures over Canada and the Northeastern United States.

• It caused 243 deaths and cost $3 billion.

Natural Disasters are very frequent these days and it brings immense loss to lives and property. Not only that, it brings along with it unforgottable trauma, which ever remains memorable in the minds of the people. So, we should have pre-disaster managment policies to tackle this types of situations before, so that precious lives of our brothers and sisters of our planet can be saved in advance.

• Hazard mapping

• Adoption and enforcement of land use and zoning

practices

• Implementing and enforcing building codes

• Flood plain mapping

• Reinforced tornado safe rooms

• Burying of electrical cables to prevent ice build-up

• Raising of homes in flood-prone areas

• Disaster mitigation public awareness programs

• Insurance programs