Transcript 41021

2010 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY:
THE YEAR OF “RECORD AND
NEAR-RECORD” NATURAL
DISASTERS
Walter Hays, Global Alliance for
Disaster Reduction, University of
North Carolina, USA
2010
Earthquakes, Floods, Volcanic
Eruptions, Severe Windstorms,
Tsunamis, Landslides,
Droughts, and Blizzards
WAVE AFTER WAVE OF NATURAL
DISASTERS THAT KILLED OVER 260,000
AND CAUSED DIRECT ECONOMIC
LOSSES OF AT LEAST $222 BILLION
2010
… And the Impacts of a
Record Environmental
Disaster in the Gulf of Mexico
and Global Climate Change
DIRECT ECONOMIC LOSSES ESTIMATED
AT $50 BILLION
and INDIRECT LOSSES AT ??
THE DEADLIEST DISASTERS OF 2010
• M7.0 Haiti Earthquake that killed
230,000, largely because of the
inadequacy of the building code,
leaving survivors stuck in tent
cities battling a cholera outbreak
and health-care problems for the
rest of the year – January 12th
DEATH TOLL REACHED AN
ESTIMATED 230,OOO+
THE DEADLIEST DISASTERS OF 2010
• Heat Wave that destroyed
one-third of Russia’s wheat
crop and a week of Wildfires
that came close to the
radioactive waste land –July 29
RUSSIA: 600 WILDFIRES
BURNING IN 7 REGIONS
THE DEADLIEST DISASTERS OF 2010
• Floods that inundated one-
fifth of Pakistan –July 29
ONE-FIFTH OF PAKISTAN
AFFECTED
Floods and wildfires that wipe out
crops in Russia and Pakistan (and
other nations like Peru) drive up
food prices for the poorest nations,
spend more than 75 percent of
household income on imported
grains.
PARALYZING DISASTERS OF 2010
•A
rare volcanic eruption in
Iceland that paralyzed air
traffic in Europe for days.
Eyjafjallajökull: UNDER A
GLACIER; MARCH 27, 2010
ASH CLOUD FROM APRIL 14
ERIPTION
PARALYZING DISASTERS OF 2010
•A
blanket of snow and a
Nor’easter that paralyzed
the Washington, D.C. area
and eastern seaboard.
ONE OF THE HARDEST HIT NATIONS IN
•
2010 -- INDONESIA
•In a 24-hour period in October, Indonesia
suffered a deadly magnitude 7.7
earthquake, a tsunami that killed more
than 500 people and a volcanic eruption
that caused more than 390,000 people to
leave habitats and livestock and flee to
evacuation centers that had inadequate
health care facilities.
A M7.7 EARTHQUAKE, A 3 M-TSUNAMIWAVE RUN UP, AND A LONG
ERUPTION OF MOUNT MERAPI
CAUSED LOSSES IN THE TENS OF
MILLIONS, DISPLACED OVER 340,000,
KILLING NEARLY 1,000 , AND
POTENTIALLY AFFECTING THE
HEALTH AND QUALITY OF LIFE FOR
THOUSANDS,
The M7.7 earthquake generated a
near-source tsunami with 3 m (10 ft)
waves that struck within 5 minutes
after the quake---so quickly that the
regional tsunami warning system
that was improved after the
December 26, 2004 tsunami
disaster, was ineffective..
TSUNAMI WAVE RUN UP IN
MENTAWAI ISLAND
MOUNT MERAPI
AKA “FIRE MOUNTAIN”
• Mount Merapi
has a history of
starting full
scale eruptions
with a heat, or
pyroclastic
cloud, and a lava
flow.
70,000 EVACUATED AS
ERUPTION CONTINUES: NOV 2
ERUPTIONS CONTINUES : NOV 6
MERAPI’S ERUPTIONS CONTINUE
: NOV 10
ATLANTIC BASIN HURRICANE SEASON
Three active hurricanes in
motion at the same time.
•
• With nineteen named storms, 2010
is now tied with 1995 as the second
most active season in history.
HURRICANE TOMAS WAS THE LAST
STORM OF THE 2010 SEASON
Tomas, as a CAT 2 storm, was
the “the worst in Saint. Lucian
history,” causing the loss of its
entire banana crop, which
along with tourism, is extremely
important to Saint Lucia’s
economy.
TOMAS: IMPACTS SAINT LUCIA
Hurricane Tomas, which
intensified overnight on
Thursday (Nov. 4) to CAT 1, is
bearing down on Haiti, a country
with a triple disaster: 1) the
January 12, 2010 earthquake, 2)
cholera affecting at least 6,700
people, and 3) more than 1
million people still living in tents.
A TREELESS, LANDSLIDE-PRONE
HAITI FACING TOMAS, A RAINMAKER
HAITIAN’S POOREST OF THE
POOR WITH NO PLACE TO GO
LEONGANE: COPING WITH OLD
AND NEW DISASTERS, NOV 5
RECORD OIL SPILL (LEAK) IN GULF OF
MEXICO
• The explosion of British
Petroleum’s Deep Water Horizon oil
rig set into motion an environmental
disaster and a huge cleanup
operation costing billions of dollars.
DEEP WATER HORIZON:
APRIL 22
CLIMATE CHANGE CONTINUES TO BE
BLAMED AS AN EXACERBATING FACTOR
•Climate change creates “blocking
episodes,” physical conditions that
prevent humidity or heat from
dispersing naturally, thereby
creating long-lasting snow or rain
storms, or prolonged hot, dry
spells---United Nations.
REALITY CHECK:
We're now in La Nina (a period of
ocean cooling), so we should be
getting ready for a very cold winter
in 2010 and 2011.
THE REALITY CHECK OF 2010
Unless we devise and implement a
realistic, new, dynamic strategy of
capacity building, the next disaster
may be upon us much faster than we
can recover from the last one and we
will all share in an unnecessary
reduction in our quality of life.