The two deadliest natural disasters of 2013 were Typhoon Haiyan and a flood triggered by monsoon rain in India
(Thomson Reuters Foundation) - There were 337 natural disasters last year, the lowest number in the decade running from 2004 to 2013, the Red Cross said in a report on Thursday.
Floods were the most frequent natural disaster in 2013, followed by storms, according to the annual World Disasters Report from the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC).
It also said the death toll from natural disasters in 2013 was relatively small at 22,452 or almost 80 percent below the yearly average for the past decade. The number of people affected - almost 100 million - was the lowest of the decade.
In previous years, massive disasters like the Indian Ocean tsunami of 2004 and the 2010 Haiti earthquake, have caused spikes in deaths and the number of people affected.
Here are some additional facts from the report, which draws on data collected by the Belgium-based Centre for Research on the Epidemiology of Disasters:
- The two deadliest natural disasters of 2013 were Typhoon Haiyan, which hit the Philippines in November and killed 7,986 people, and a flood triggered by monsoon rain in India, causing the death of 6,054 people in June.
- Floods accounted for 44 percent of deaths caused by natural disasters and windstorms for 41 percent.
- Around half of people reported affected by natural disasters were victims of storms. The most severe were Typhoon Haiyan in the Philippines, which affected 16 million people, and Cyclone Phailin in India with 13 million affected.
- In 2013, natural disasters cost $118.6 billion, the fourth lowest of the decade. A flood in Germany cost almost $13 billion and Typhoon Haiyan $10 billion.
- The number of technological disasters, which includes industrial and transport accidents, was the second lowest of the decade, at 192 in 2013.
- The number of people killed by technological disasters in 2013, at 6,711, was 26 percent below the decade's average. The event resulting in the highest number of deaths (1,127) was the collapse of the Rana Plaza textile factory building in Bangladesh in April.
- Technological disasters affected relatively few people, totalling 22,000 in 2013. They also cost much less, at $578 million in 2013, far below the average for the decade of $2.8 billion.
Source: World Disasters Report 2014
(Reporting by Megan Rowling; editing by Katie Nguyen)
Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
