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chapter 4 - DRK

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Strictly under embargo until Wednesday 22 September at 00:01 GMT (02:01 Geneva time)According to the Centre for Research on the Epidemiology of Disasters (CRED), 351natural disasters and 225 technological disasters were reported worldwide in 2009.These two figures are both the lowest of the decade, in relation to casualties (naturaldisasters: 10,551; technological disasters: 6,707) and to the number of persons affected(natural disasters: 142 million; technological disasters: 33,000).The deadliest disaster in 2009 was an earthquake in southern Sumatra (Indonesia),which resulted in 1,117 deaths, a figure far below the major catastrophes of the decade,such as the Indian Ocean tsunami in 2004 (226,408 deaths), Cyclone Nargisin Myanmar in 2008 (138,366 deaths) or the 2008 Sichuan earthquake in China(87,476 deaths). Nevertheless, the Sumatra earthquake appears in 36th place in a rankingof disasters based on the number of persons killed. The technological disaster thatresulted in the highest number of deaths was the shipwreck of the ferry Teratai Primain Indonesia, with 247 people considered dead or missing.The disaster that resulted in the largest number of affected persons (almost 40 millionpeople affected) in 2009 was a flood in July in China. Droughts in north-eastern andeastern Africa (Ethiopia, Sudan, Kenya, Somalia, Uganda, Djibouti, Burundi) affectedalmost 20 million people. Typhoon Morakot affected more than 13 million people inChina, Taiwan and the Philippines in August, and a local storm affected 10 millionpeople in China in November. In May, Cyclone Aila affected 9 million people in Indiaand Bangladesh, and in September, Tropical Storm Ondoy (or Ketsana) affected nearly8 million people in the Philippines, Viet Nam, Lao People’s Democratic Republic andCambodia. Twelve other major natural disasters affected between 1 and 6 million peopleeach; nine of these events occurred in Asia, two in the Americas and one in Africa.All of these major disasters accounted for 90 per cent of the total number of peopleaffected by natural disasters. By comparison, technological disasters affect few people.An explosion in an ammunitions camp in Tanzania in April was the technological disasterthat affected the most people (19,366) in 2009.Natural disaster costs (US$ 41.5 billion) were the third lowest of the decade – after thelowest values of 2001 (US$ 35.5 billion) and 2006 (US$ 36.3 billion) – and representless than one-fifth of the record of 2005, when Hurricane Katrina caused damagesamounting to almost US$ 137 billion.In 2009, the costliest disaster was winter storm Klaus, which caused damages totallingUS$ 5.1 billion in France and Spain. Damages from the Aquila earthquake in Italy costUS$ 2.5 billion. Three tornadoes in the United States cost a total of US$ 6.2 billion;the earthquake in southern Sumatra caused damages amounting to US$ 2.2 billionand a flood in India in September also cost US$ 2.2 billion. Eleven other disasters160ANNEX 1Disaster data

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