Mr. Shyaam Ramkumar, Chair
s-ramkumar@northwestern.edu


Throughout history, natural disasters have caused grave humanitarian and economic damages that set back the development of many countries, resulting in unimaginable costs to humanity. Malaria takes the lives of 1-5 million people every day. An African drought claimed the lives of 20,000 people each month from 1981 – 1984. In the period from 1995-1998, over 3 million people died due to floods and famine in North Korea. Earthquakes and floods caused over $80 billion worth of damage in the late 1980’s in Russia. On August 6, 1998, a flood in China caused $20 billion in damages. An earthquake on January 20, 1995 in Japan caused a $131 billion in damage. Many more disasters like floods, famines, earthquakes, wildfires, and tropical storms frequently caused more than a billion dollars worth of damage and anywhere from 10,000 – 20 million deaths in their respective countries in the 20th century.

In December, 2004, an undersea earthquake occurred in the Indian Ocean. This earthquake resulted in a tsunami that killed more than 300,000 people, with over a million people left homeless. Indonesia, South India, Thailand, Sri Lanka and other South East Asian countries were decimated by the tsunami, and there were reported deaths as far as the eastern coast of Africa. Since there were no warning systems in place in the Indian Ocean, due to the rarity of tsunamis in that region and the cost of such infrastructure, the victims of the 2004 tsunami were taken completely by surprise. The resulting relief operation is known to be the costliest ever, with reconstruction predicted to take 5 to 10 years to complete. The 2004 tsunami forced numerous fishermen in one of the poorest regions of the world to be out of work, which will devastate the economies of these countries that rely so heavily on the fishing industry. The infrastructure damages caused by the tsunami will have an equal toll on the economies of these nations in the years to come.

August, 2005 saw one of the most devastating hurricanes in United States history in New Orleans, Louisiana. Though sufficient warning enabled many residents to evacuate, preventing the loss of more lives, there was not enough policies and strategies in place to prevent the subsequent breaking of the levees, which could only withstand a category 3 hurricane. Thus, the flooding of New Orleans took a greater toll on the city than the hurricane ever did. Though numerous studies by the Army Corp of Engineers, Popular Mechanic, Scientific American, and National Geographic, to name a few, showed that such a scenario was not implausible, attempts to finance measures to rectify this situation were frequently tabled as the existing budget was even cut. Even after the hurricane hit, the poor response for relief efforts and the lack of sufficient shelters and methods for evacuating people led to unsanitary conditions in many of the occupied shelters. The inability to take precautions against the possibility for a great natural disaster in New Orleans led to the deaths of over 1,300 people and caused over $75 billion in damages, with additional costs for supporting displaced victims.

On October 8, 2005, a magnitude 7.6 earthquake hit Pakistan causing over 90,000 casualties, with over 100,000 injured. Many of those who died were trapped under buildings and homes, with entire villages and towns being wiped out. The aftermath of the earthquake left 3.3 million people homeless, with 4 million directly affected in face of the shortly-following harsh winter. The subsequent aftershocks and the earthquake itself caused numerous landslides that buried roads, limiting aid and rescue efforts for victims. There was an estimated $5 billion in damages after the earthquake, in addition to further economic costs due to reconstruction and loss of jobs and infrastructure.

There is no doubt that natural disasters are extremely dangerous and very deadly due to the inability to precisely identify the true risks and potential impacts. They have an uncanny ability to spawn various events that are just as bad, or even worse, than the actual disaster itself. These events cause untold economic damages and the loss of countless lives. Thus, it is imperative that sufficient funds and resources be poured into policies and strategies that will evaluate possible risks and take measures to prevent the impact of these natural disasters. The UNDP’s Bureau of Crisis Prevention and Recovery includes many facets such as the Disaster Reduction Unit, which works to prevent the risk and impact of disasters in its program countries. Already, the Disaster Risk Index Analysis Tool, used by the DRU, allows countries to measure their vulnerability to earthquakes, floods, and cyclones. These tools and others will be vital in the future development of sufficient strategies to reduce the risk and impact of natural disasters.



Global Disaster Watch
The 100 Most Expensive Disasters in the 20th century
The 100 Deadliest Disasters in the 20th century
World’s Worst Natural Disasters
Wikipedia - Famine in Asia
Wikipedia - Kasmir Earthquake
Wikipedia - Indian Ocean Earthquake
Wikipedia - Hurricane Katrina
UNDP (1)
UNDP (2)