Protection from Disasters

This is the 2007 draft on disasters. You will get the newest version here.

Floods and other natural or technological disasters harm human life and health, as well as infrastructure. Catastrophe management can prevent and minimize adverse effects.

Affected people and foundations of life: Floods affect more than 140 million people per year – which is more than all other disasters combined. In the nineties damages of US$ (United States dollar) 243 billion were caused by floods. Since the fifties, annual economic losses from natural catastrophes have increased tenfold. (MA [Millennium Assessment] 2005, 54, 9.)

Deaths: 485 000 people died in natural disasters in 2002 (WHO [World Health Organization] 2004, 122). In floods, more than 100 000 people were killed during the nineties (MA 2005, 54).

Targets/goals: no international target.

Trend: − The frequency of disasters as well as their damages are increasing.

Measures: The UN (United Nations) has started the International Strategy for Disaster Reduction, which has developed a Framework for Action 2005-2015 and is concerned with e. g. (for example) early warning systems and the risks of climate change (UNISDR.org).

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Annotations: For numeric names the short scale is used:
1 billion = one thousand million = 10⁹ = 1 000 000 000

Sources

• MA 2005 – Millennium Assessment: Ecosystems and Human Well-being; Synthesis; A Report of the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment.  (Written on behalf of the UN, coordinated by UNEP [United Nations Environment Programme].) Washington.
• WHO 2004 – World Health Organization: WHO Report 2004.  

Draft (2007)