Bogumil Terminski Environmentally-Induced Displacement ... - Cedem

Droughts: The problem of drought in many regions of the world seems to beparticularly associated with the process of desertification. We can definedrought as an extended period of months or years when a region notes adeficiency in its water supply. Generally, this occurs when a region receivesconsistently below average precipitation. The so called Sahelian-drought, thatbegan in 1986 took place in sub-Saharan Africa was responsible for deaths ofbetween 100,000 and 250,000 of the region’s inhabitants. The dry period inSahelian Region was accentuated by two severe droughts in the early 1970sand 1980s. It is estimated that Sahel drought killed some 100,000 people anddisplaced millions in that time. A direct consequence of the drought-inducedfamine was also a large scale of internal displacement and at least 0.5 millionrefugees in the region. A 2011 drought in East Africa was described as “theworst in 60 years”.Earthquakes: Earthquakes are another type of natural disaster that bringsabout specific consequences in countries with a high population density rate.Given the currently observed phenomenon seems reasonable to distinguishtwo categories of natural disasters caused by earthquakes: 1. displacement as aresult of direct action of earthquake (for example the consequences of the2003 Bam earthquake in Iran) and 2. displacement caused by earthquakeinduced tsunami wave (mainly characteristic for coastal areas).Environmentally-induced displacement associated with the increasinglyfrequent after 2004 tsunami will be discussed in another part of the presentstudy.Particularly at risk the consequences of grand earthquakes seems now highlypopulated Asian countries (China, India and Japan). Another area of frequentoccurrence of earthquakes is also South America (especially the areas of Chileand Peru) and a pool of the Caribbean Sea. The largest earthquakes in recentyears have been (not including earthquake induced tsunami waves):earthquake in Haiti in 2010 (over 227,000 people killed), Sichuan Province inChina in 2008 (over 87,000 dead), earthquake in Bam (Iran) in 2003 (31,000