Top 10 Facts About Asia’s Natural Disasters In 2012

Here are the top ten facts about natural disasters in Asia in 2012, based on data released by the UNISDR and CRED on December 11. 

 

between January and October, natural disasters in Asia still claimed more lives here than anywhere else in the world – and experts predict the trend will continue as populations and industries expand in a region that already houses the world’s largest number of urban residents. 

“Cities are growing. There will be even more people and factories. If you think we have a problem now, we will have even more in the future,” said Jerry Velasquez, head of the Asia-Pacific office for the UN Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNISDR). The agency estimates the number of people living in flood-prone urban areas in East Asia may reach 67 million by 2060.

Here are the top ten facts about natural disasters in Asia in 2012, based on the preliminary 2012 data on natural disasters in 28 Asian countries released by UNISDR and Center for Research on the Epidemiology of Disasters (CRED) on December 11.

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1. Natural disasters caused US$15 billion in damage to Asian countries.

Countries in the region reported 83 disasters – mostly floods – in 2012. The disasters killed some 3,100 people, affected 64.5 million and left behind US$15 billion in damage.


2. The worldwide death toll was 5,400.

Worldwide, 231 disasters killed some 5,400 people, affected 87 million and caused US$44.6 billion in damage.

3. 78 million people were affected by natural disasters in Asia.

From 1950 to 2011, nine out of 10 people affected by disasters worldwide were in Asia.

4. One of the hardest hit countries in 2012 was the Philippines.

One of the region’s hardest-hit countries this year (and this past decade) was the Philippines. Since 2002, the country has had 182 recorded disasters, which killed almost 11,000 people. This figure does not include the storm that hit the country’s south on December 4; more than 600 were killed in that event, and some 800 are still reported missing.


5. China had three of the top five natural disasters this year.

Of the top five disasters that created the most damage this year, three were in China, and the other two were in Pakistan and Iran. Cumulatively, these events resulted in an estimated US$13.3 billion in damage. 

6. China had 18 disasters in 2012.

China led the list of most disasters in 2012 (18), followed by Philippines (16), Indonesia (10), Afghanistan (9), and India (5).


7. Only China suffered from multiple types of natural disasters.

China was the only “multi-hazard”-prone country. In the others, including Pakistan, 85 percent of damage came from one event, calling into question efforts to cultivate “multi-hazard” resiliency, said CRED.

8. Countries tend to face specific types of hazards.

Two-hazard countries included Afghanistan (drought and flood); Bangladesh and Vietnam (flood and storm); and India, Malaysia, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka (flood and earthquake).


9. Preparedness for disasters varied between countries.

In the past decade, Indonesia and the Philippines have had many disasters but relatively few affected people, while Bangladesh and Thailand have had fewer disasters and more affected, while Pakistan and Vietnam fell in between the two categories. These numbers offer a sign of how prepared these respective countries were to face emergencies, researchers noted.


10. Floods in Pakistan and China led to economic loss in the region.

Pakistan suffered large-scale loss of life from floods for the third successive year; from August to October, 480 people died in floods. June-July floods in China affected over 17 million people and caused the most economic loss in the region – US$4.8 billion.

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