Natural disasters have quadrupled in two decades: study*

LONDON, Nov 25 (AFP) Nov 25, 2007

More than four times the number of natural disasters are occurring now
than did two decades ago, British charity Oxfam said in a study Sunday
that largely blamed global warming.

"Oxfam... says that rising green house gas emissions are the major cause
of weather-related disasters and must be tackled," the organisation
said, adding that the world's poorest people were being hit the hardest.

The world suffered about 120 natural disasters per year in the early
1980s, which compared with the current figure of about 500 per year,
according to the report.

"This year we have seen floods in South Asia, across the breadth of
Africa and Mexico that have affected more than 250 million people,"
noted Oxfam director Barbara Stocking.

"This is no freak year. It follows a pattern of more frequent, more
erratic, more unpredictable and more extreme weather events that are
affecting more people."

She added: "Action is needed now to prepare for more disasters otherwise
humanitarian assistance will be overwhelmed and recent advances in human
development will go into reverse."

The number of people affected by extreme natural disasters, meanwhile,
has surged by almost 70 percent, from 174 million a year between 1985 to
1994, to 254 million people a year between 1995 to 2004, Oxfam said.

Floods and wind-storms have increased from 60 events in 1980 to 240 last
year, with flooding itself up six-fold.

But the number of geothermal events, such as earthquakes and volcanic
eruptions, has barely changed.

Oxfam urged Western governments to push hard for a deal on climate
change at a key international meeting that runs December 3-14 on the
Indonesian island of Bali.

Rich Western nations and the United Nations must act to "make
humanitarian aid faster, fairer and more flexible and to improve ways to
prepare for and reduce the risk of disasters," it said.

The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change conference in
Bali aims to see countries agree to launch a roadmap for negotiating
cuts in climate-changing carbon emissions from 2012.

The Oxfam study was compiled using data from the Red Cross, the United
Nations and specialist researchers at Louvain University in Belgium.