Over the past decade, the Asia-Pacific region had eight of the 10 largest disasters in terms of fatalities
(Refiles adding dropped words 'in Thailand' in 'other facts' 10)
By Alisa Tang
BANGKOK, Oct 27 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - The United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) on Tuesday released its 2015 report on the most disaster-prone region in the world.
The Asia-Pacific region was hit by 1,625 natural disasters from 2005 to 2014, which killed half a million people and caused $523 billion in economic damage.
The region suffered 40 percent of all disasters worldwide, 60 percent of deaths, and 80 percent of the number of people affected.
Here are other facts from the U.N. 2015 Asia-Pacific disaster report:
- In the period from 2005 to 2014, earthquakes and tsunamis were the most deadly disasters, killing 200,000 people.
- The most frequent disasters were floods and storms. Storms killed about 170,000 people, floods killed about 40,000.
- Within the Asia Pacific region, Southeast Asia had the most disasters, with 512 events from 2005 to 2014 and 177,000 deaths.
- Over the past decade, the region had eight of the 10 largest disasters in terms of fatalities, and four of the 10 largest in terms of economic damage.
- Cyclone Nargis, a category 3 storm that hit Myanmar in 2008, was the world's second deadliest disaster in the past decade, with 138,000 killed or missing. (The deadliest was the Haiti earthquake in 2010, with 225,570 deaths.)
- Also in 2008, a 7.9-magnitude earthquake in China's Sichuan province killed 87,000 and caused $60 billion in damage.
- In 2011, Japan's 9.0-magnitude earthquake and tsunami killed 20,000 people and caused $165 billion in damage, representing 3.8 percent of the country's GDP.
- The region also had a large number of deaths from extreme temperatures with 56,000 killed in a severe heat wave in North and Central Asia in 2010.
- Based on present trends, by the year 2030 economic losses in the region could average $160 billion per year.
- Recent investments in disaster resilience include hanging footbridges in the Philippines to provide access to schools and vital infrastructure during floods; in Thailand typhoon forecasts five to seven days in advance so farmers can harvest crops early.
- From 2004 to 2013, international assistance to the region totalled $438 billion, including $18.2 billion for emergency response to disasters, $6.8 billion for reconstruction, relief and rehabilitation, and $2.9 billion for disaster prevention and preparedness.
- Early warning and preparedness have dramatically reduced the death toll of cyclones in Bangladesh, where 4,234 were killed in a category 5 storm in 2007, down from 138,866 killed in a category 3 storm in 1991, and 300,000 killed in a category 3 storm in 1970.
(Reporting by Alisa Tang, editing by Tim Pearce. Please credit the Thomson Reuters Foundation, the charitable arm of Thomson Reuters, that covers humanitarian news, women's rights, corruption and climate change. Visit www.trust.org)
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