Asia tops disaster deaths in 2006, Europe rate up
Pastor Dale Morgan
Asia tops disaster deaths in 2006, Europe rate up*
29 Jan 2007 19:08:50 GMT
Source: Reuters
By Robert Evans
GENEVA, Jan 29 (Reuters) - Asia was the world's most dangerous region
for natural disasters in 2006, accounting for three-quarters of more
than 21,000 deaths, a U.N.-backed report said on Monday.
The report, compiled by the Belgian-based research centre CRED and the
U.N.'s disaster reduction agency ISDR, covered disasters such as floods,
tidal waves, landslides, storms and earthquakes.
In Europe, it said, deaths caused by extreme weather rose 5 percent to
15 percent of the global total.
"Asia, with its millions of poor people living in vulnerable areas in
flood plains and river basins, is still the continent most hit by
disasters triggered by natural hazards," Debarati Guha-Sapir of the CRED
told a news conference.
Last year, she said, "there was a small increase in extreme temperature
events -- heatwaves and freeze-ups -- and Europe was specially badly
hit." Guha-Sapir, a professor at Brussels University of Louvain, was
presenting an advance version of the report to be issued later this
year. The report said 21,342 people died in natural disasters in 2006.
Guha-Sapir said that Europe's fatality figures had been pushed up by
last July's heatwave which resulted in 1,000 deaths in the Netherlands
and 940 deaths in Belgium. Cold spells had also killed 801 people in the
Ukraine.
She added Europe in general was not doing enough to prepare and reduce
the impact of such events.
"Countries need to have a detailed plan in place to mitigate the effects
of temperature extremes," Guha-Sapir said -- although she noted France
had taken measures to prevent a repetition of the widespread heatwave
deaths in 2003.
Bangladesh had made huge advances, setting up early warning systems for
cyclones which had saved thousands of lives in recent years by ensuring
people left danger-zones quickly.
"The small rise in extreme events indicates that we might have to suffer
more from the negative impact of climate change in the future," said
ISDR Director Salvano Briceno.
"We need to be better prepared globally and not only in Asia and
Africa," he said.