Natural Disasters Data Book 2008
An Analytical Overview 2008
Overview
The year 2008 saw two deadliest disasters: Cyclone Nargis in Myanmar and Sichuan Earthquake in China, which both hit Asia in May, causing devastating impact on people’s lives and properties.
ADRC Natural Disasters Data Book 2008 provides the statistical perspectives in figures and tables for 2008 as well as for the period 1975-2008 based on data obtained by EM-DAT.
According to EM-DAT, 389 natural disasters occurred in 2008 worldwide, killed more than 238,000 people and affected over 214 million people. The estimated amount of economic damage exceeded USD190 billion.
By region, Asia is the highest in all the indices: in disaster occurrences, Asia accounts for 37.5 percent; number of people killed, 97.4 percent; number of total affected people, 82.9 percent; and amount of economic damage, 62.1 percent.
Most of these results are attributed to the abovementioned two catastrophes. The fatalities from the two disaster events themselves account for about 94.7 percent of death toll worldwide. Also, they constitute 46.8 percent of the total amount of economic damage and 22.6 percent of total affected people.
Worldwide disaster trends in composition of indices and top shares of impacts vary by disaster type. For instance, flood made up the largest share of 42.7 percent of all disaster occurrences; storm, 59.6 percent of total number of people killed; extreme temperature, 36.9 percent of total affected people; and earthquake, 45.1 percent of total amount of economic damage. Within Asia, the indices show similar trends.
Similarly, during the period 1975-2008, Asia stands out from all the other regions in terms of disaster occurrences, number of people killed and total affected, and amount of economic damage.
Trends of world disaster occurrences by fatality size during the same period show that the occurrences of disasters with less than 100 fatalities are high and significantly increasing particularly since the late 1990s, while those with 100-999 and 1000 or more fatalities remain relatively low and unchanged.
Data Book 2008 also contains tables of the 25 worst disaster occurrences by number of people killed and total affected, economic damage, and their respective ratios to population and gross domestic product. It also includes tables of 2008 disasters in ADRCmember and other Asian countries sorted by country and disaster type.
Table of Contents
1. Impacts of Natural Disaster by Region, 2008
2. Impacts of Natural Disaster by Disaster Type, 2008
3. Impacts of Natural Disaster in Asia by Disaster Type, 2008
4. Cyclone Nargis and Sichuan Earthquake, 2008
5. Impacts of World Natural Disasters by Region, 1975-2008
6. Trends of World Natural Disasters, 1975-2008
7. Trends of World Disaster Occurrence by Disaster Type, 1975-2008
8. Trends of World Disaster Occurrence by Fatality Size, 1975-2008
9. The 25 Worst Disasters by Number of People Killed, 2008
10. The 25 Worst Disasters by Number of People Killed per Million Population, 2008
11. The 25 Worst Disasters by Total Number of People Affected, 2008
12. The 25 Worst Disasters by Affected People per Thousand Population, 2008
13. The 25 Worst Disasters by Economic Damage, 2008
14. The 25 Worst Disasters by Ratio of Economic Damage to GDP, 2008
15. Disasters in Asia by Country, 2008
16. Disasters in Asia by Disaster Type, 2008