2009, Disasters in Numbers - Earthquakes often are the worst

From the United Nations ISDR (International Strategy for Disaster Reduction):

According to the Centre for Research on Epidemiology of Disasters, 3,852 disasters killed more than 780,000 people over the past ten years, affected more than two billion others and cost a minimum of 960 billion US$.  This is from the report 2009: Disasters in Numbers.

In the past decade, nearly 60 per cent of the people killed by disasters died because of earthquakes. After earthquakes, storms (22%) and extreme temperatures (11%) were the most deadly disasters between 2000 and 2009.

The most deadly disasters of the 2000 decade were the Indian Ocean Tsunami, which hit several countries in Asia (2004) leaving 226,408 dead; Cyclone Nargis, which killed 138,366 people in Myanmar (2008); and the Sichuan earthquake in China (2008), causing the deaths of 87,476 people. 73,338 people were also killed in the earthquake in Pakistan (2005) and 72,210 in heat waves in Europe (2003).

In 2009, the total number of people killed and affected by disasters was lower than in 2008, as no major disaster occurred: 327 events killed 10,416 people, affected nearly 113 million others and caused a total of 34.9 billion US$ economic damages. 

Munich Re - Hazard Insurance

In my sabbatical city of Munich lies the headquarters of Munich Re. According to Wikipedia, Munich Re (Munich Reinsurance Company), a is the world’s largest reinsurer. In 2008 the company's equity amounted to $30 billion. The group’s premium income for the year (gross premiums written) was $6 billion, with its consolidated profit amounting to $2 billion. Big business!  One of the main offices is down the street from my apartment, and the commanding presence of the 50-foot tall Walking Man, by the American artist Jonathan Borofsky, is right out front on Leopoldstrasse.

Munich Re has some very good web pages on natural disasters.  It states its interest in earthquakes:

"Underwriting aspects - There are many areas with high concentrations of values and population that are also located in zones of very high seismic activity. In highly exposed areas with, at the same time, a high concentration of values and high insurance penetration, the insurance industry is confronted with a major problem: the possible accumulation of losses which include the risk of financial ruin. This makes it all the more important to gain an objective impression of the exposure. Only with this as a basis can the most appropriate prevention measures be implemented, be they realistic premium calculations, accumulation controls, and the establishment of reserves, or structural improvements and land-use restrictions."

Here is a table from Munich Re on the costliest hazards in recent years (pre-Haiti):

 

Yes, that's $125 billion for Katrina!  No wonder insurers are interested in natural disasters.

More from Munich Re to come.

Pennsylvania Disaster History

logo from http://www.readypa.org/

I was wondering the other day if Pennsylvania has a state equivalent of FEMA (Federal Emergency Management Agency). Yes, we do, and sure enough, it is PEMA (Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency).

PEMA has a list of events comprising Pennsylvania Disaster History. Events are listed in chronological order, giving: date, general type of disaster, areas affected, and the response taken.

I re-classified the events somewhat, and came up with the following graph of the number of disasters, by type:

click on graph for larger version

Historically, earthquakes don't even make the list!

Based on this list, if you live in Pennsylvania, watch out for flooding and weather-related disasters, and fire. Of course, economic downturns are not listed.

Earthquake relief during this holiday season

The last five years have seen some of the most damaging earthquakes in history: China, Pakistan, Sumatra.

Beichuan, China, 2008

www.telegraph.co.uk

In this season of American Thanksgiving and year-end holidays, some of us interested in the field of seismology and earthquakes might wonder how we could aid some of the victims of these not-so-long-ago disasters.

There are many excellent relief agencies out there (although perhaps some not so efficient as others). There are groups which independently audit charitable agencies, and one that I came across online is the American Institute of Philanthropy. This group suggests that especially worthwhile agencies for Chinese earthquake relief are:

• Church World Service
• Habitat for Humanity International
• Mercy Corps
• Oxfam - America
• Save The Children
• U.S. Fund for UNICEF
• World Vision
  

Other agencies that might be worth considering include:

• Mennonite Central Committee
• Islamic Relief Worldwide
• Direct Relief International
• Global Giving

Two out of three ain't good

Will we be more ready for the next big earthquake in California then we were for 9/11 or Hurricane Katrina?

"U.S. Geological Survey seismologist Lucy Jones remembers attending an emergency training session in August 2001 with the Federal Emergency Management Agency that discussed the three most likely catastrophes to strike the United States.

First on the list was a terrorist attack in New York. Second was a super-strength hurricane hitting New Orleans. Third was a major earthquake on the San Andreas fault.

Now that the first two have come to pass, she and other earthquake experts are using the devastating aftermath of Hurricane Katrina as an opportunity to reassess how California would handle a major temblor." (Los Angeles Times, 9/8/05)

This past week southern Californians participated in a huge planning simulation,

http://www.shakeout.org/

I think we'll be hearing from one of our contributors about this exercise.