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FACTS AND FIGURES ABOUT WATER AND NATURAL DISASTERS The world is experiencing a dramatic increase of suffering from the effects of disasters, ranging from extreme droughts to huge floods, caused by the poor water and land management and possibly by climate change. The burden of loss, of course, is greatest in poor countries, where 13 times more people die from such events than in rich ones. Some 75% of the world’s population lives in areas affected at least once by earthquake, tropical cyclone, flood or drought between 1980 and 2000. As a result of disasters triggered by earthquake, tropical cyclone, flood or drought more than 184 deaths per day are recorded in different parts of the world. More than 2,200 major and minor water-related disasters occurred in the world between 1990 and 2001. Of these, floods accounted for half of the total disasters, water-borne and vector disease outbreaks accounted for 28% and drought accounted for 11% of the total disasters. Of these disasters, 35% occurred in Asia, 29% in Africa, 20% in the Americas, 13% in Europe and 3% in Oceania. The impacts from just one single disaster have, in some cases, lowered the Gross National Product (GNP) in poor economies by as much as 10%. Annual economic losses associated with such disasters averaged US $75.5 billion in the 1960s, US $138.4 billion in the 1970s, US $213.9 billion in the 1980s and US $659.9 billion in the 1990s. More people were affected by disasters during the 90s than over the previous decade – up from an average of 147 million per year (1981–1990) to 211 million per year (1991–2000). Floods accounted for over 65% of people affected by natural disasters, while famine affected nearly 20%. Between 1973 and 1997 an average of 66 million people a year suffered flood damage, making flooding the most damaging of all natural disasters. From 1991 to 2000, drought has been responsible for over 280,000 deaths and has cost tens of millions of US dollars in damage. The Indian state of Orissa experienced massive flooding in 2000, followed in 2001 by the worst drought in a decade and new floods. Out of a population of 32 million, some 27 million people were affected. The Zimbabwe drought of the early 1990s was associated with an 11 percent decline in Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and a 60% decline in the stock market; more recent floods in Mozambique led to a 23% reduction in GDP while the 2000 drought in Brazil led to a 50% decrease in projected economic growth.
Information from: Source: UNESCO Water Portal, October 2005
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