Global Report on Human Settlements 2007 - PoA-ISS

Disaster risk: Conditions, trends and impacts
171
Year Location/area Country Hazard Mortality Economic losses Comment
(US$ billion)
2005 Northwest Frontier Pakistan (also affected: South Asian 73,000 (in Pakistan) 5.2 Collapsed schools killed
and Pakistan-controlled India-controlled earthquake 18,000 children; 2.8 million
Kashmir Jammu and Kashmir and made homeless
Afghanistan)
2005 New Orleans US Flood and 1863 81.2 The costliest natural disaster
Hurricane Katrina
in US history
2004 Banda Aceh Indonesia Indian Ocean Tsunami 70,000 – Complete destruction of
coastal settlements
2004 Bam Iran Earthquake 31,000 – World Heritage historic city
destroyed
2003 European cities Europe Heat wave 35,000 to 50,000 – Impacts worst in cities; the
elderly were most vulnerable
2002 Dresden (and other Germany (also Flood 90 – 30,000 evacuated in Dresden;
cities on the Elbe Hungary, Slovakia and cultural assets damaged
River, as well as
the Czech Republic)
the Danube)
2002 Goma Democratic Volcanic eruption 47 – >100,000 made homeless;
Republic of Congo
25% of city destroyed
2001 Gujarat India Earthquake 20,000 5.5 1.2 million made homeless
2000 Maputo, Chokwe, Mozambique Flooding 700 – 4.5 million affected
Xai-Xai and Matola
1999 Caracas and Venezuela Flooding and Up to 30,000 1.9 5500 homes destroyed; rains
coastal Venzuela landslides in 2000 left another 2000
homeless
1999 Orissa and coastal India Cyclone >10,000 2.5 130,000 people evacuated
settlements
1999 Izmit Turkey Marmara earthquake 15,000 12 Failure to enforce building
codes a significant cause
1998 Tegucigalpa, Honduras and Hurricane Mitch 11,000–20,000 5.4 Flooding and landslides caused
Honduras and many Nicaragua most loss
smaller settlements
in Honduras and
Nicaragua
1998 Dhaka Bangladesh Flood 1050 4.3
1998 Gujarat and coastal India Cyclone Up to 3000 2938 villages affected
settlements
1992 South of Miami US Hurricane Andrew 65 26
1991 Coastal settlements Bangladesh Cyclone 138,000 – Three times as many women
as men were killed
1988 Spitak and Armenia Earthquake 25,000 – 500,000 homeless; Spitak, a
surrounding towns
city of 25,000, was completely
destroyed
1985 Mexico City Mexico Earthquake At least 9000 4 100,000 made homeless
1985 Santiago Chile Earthquake 180 1.8 45,000 dwellings destroyed
1976 Tangshan China Great Tangshan Around 300,000 – 180,000 buildings destroyed
earthquake
1972 Managua Nicaragua Earthquake >10,000 – Core of city completely
destroyed
Table 7.3
Selected recent natural
disasters affecting
human settlements
(1972–2005)
…the number of
recorded disasters is
increasing as the
number of people
living in cities
increases
itants to disaster risk. Such processes underlying the vulnerability
of urban areas to disaster are examined in greater
detail later in this chapter.
Despite such risk factors, vulnerability to disaster
remains largely underestimated in urban development. 7
There is no dedicated global database with which to analyse
urban disaster events or losses. Indeed, few countries or
cities systematically record disasters. Existing evidence does,
however, indicate an upward trend in the annual number of
natural and human-made disaster events reported worldwide,
and a similar upward trend for global urban population
since 1950 (see Figure 7.1).
No simple causal link between urban growth and
reported worldwide disaster occurrence can be made from
such data; but it is clear that the number of recorded disasters
is increasing as the number of people living in cities
increases. Given these trends, it is not unreasonable to
conclude that, without major changes in the management of
disaster risks and of urbanization processes, the number of
urban disasters will also increase in the future.
An account of the urban costs of flooding in
Mozambique illustrates the complexity of factors exacerbating
urban disaster risks (see Box 7.2). The high levels of risk
that have already accumulated in urban societies due to a
complexity of factors means that, even with risk reduction
activity being undertaken today, disaster risk is set to increase
in the foreseeable future. Furthermore, recent events
continue to show weaknesses in the ability of governments
and of the international community to protect their citizens
from, and to respond to, disaster. Experience from recent
disasters also points to a central role for sustainable human
settlements planning and management in risk reduction.
Experience from
recent disasters …
points to a central
role for sustainable
human settlements
planning and
management in risk
reduction