Extreme natural disasters have become more frequent and their impact more severe. According to the United Nations, over 200 million people are affected by natural disasters every year, claiming tens of thousands of lives and causing billions of dollars of damage. D espite the increased frequency and destructiveness of disasters, the death toll has fallen compared with the last century due to technological advances and expanded use of emergency response systems. In the past decade, fewer than one million people died in natural disasters worldwide, compared with three million deaths in the same period 40 years ago. {Hunger is a natural disaster that claims millions of lives.}

SOME OF THE NEWS MAKING AND “INVISIBLE”
DISASTERS OF AUGUST 2007

South Asia Flooding: Every year, monsoon season in South Asia brings severe storms and flooding to Bangladesh, India, Nepal and Pakistan. Climate change is now making things worse, as melting glaciers in the Himalayas increase the risk of flooding but cut the supply of fresh water. In the month of August, many victims drowned, died from diseases spread by dirty water or were killed by snakebites after the fresh rains in a region already exhausted by more than a month of floods. More than 1,700 Indians, Nepalis and Bangladeshis have been killed. In Bangladesh alone, seven million people have been displaced or made homeless and 80,000 have been reported with diarrhea, according to health officials. A quarter of a million Indians have also experienced various diseases from the stagnant floodwaters.

North Korea Flooding: Floods in the impoverished North have affected 3.7 million and wiped out over 200,000 acres of farmland in a country that battles chronic food shortages. According to the United Nations, 58,000 homes have been destroyed, 300,000 people were made homeless and about 300 people are dead. United Nations relief officials in the region reported that floodwaters had wrecked more than 800 public buildings, 540 bridges, 70 stretches of railway, 500 electric towers and 30 water reservoirs and 450 agricultural structures. This month’s floods are some of the worst to ever hit the region.

Sudan Flooding: Sudan has been experiencing the worst flooding in living memory threatening scarce food supplies. Over 700 people are victims of a cholera outbreak, which was spread by the devastating floods in east Sudan. The floods have killed over 90 people across Sudan and destroyed more than 70,000 homes.

Peru Earthquake: On August 15, an 8.0 magnitude quake shook Peru's central coast, killing more than 600 people and destroying about 34,000 homes. Tens of thousands remain displaced or homeless and are complaining of neglect. Aid bottlenecks have developed.

Tropical Storm Erin and Midwest Flooding: Tropical Storm Erin swept through Texas, Oklahoma, Missouri and other regions of the mid-west on August 22. Erin and other storms that followed resulted in severe flooding for a vast region of the United States. In one Ohio County alone, more than 700 homes were severely damaged or destroyed. The Blanchard River in Ohio topped 7 feet above flood stage, its highest level since a 1913 Flood. Thousands of homes have been damaged or destroyed throughout the region and at least 20 deaths have been reported, as the floodwaters remain high.

“Typhoon Sepat”: On August 19, Tropical Storm Sepat made landfall as a typhoon in China, bringing torrential rain and powerful winds, damaging hundreds of houses, ruining thousands of hectares of crops and cutting power supply lines in eastern and southern China. The typhoon, which killed more than 20 people in China, Taiwan and the Philippines, weakened to a tropical storm as it headed inland. Mines were ordered to close and over a million people sought safety.

Hurricane Dean: Hurricane Dean, which struck the Gulf Coast of Mexico and the Caribbean during the week of August 20, was the ninth most intense hurricane ever observed in the Atlantic basin, the third most intense to hit land. More than 25 people were killed in Haiti, Jamaica, Mexico and other parts of the Caribbean. Dean hit the Yucatan Peninsula as a Category 5 hurricane, becoming the first storm of that strength to hit land in 15 years. The hurricane damaged Mayan villages and beach resorts across the Yucatan Peninsula and caused oil companies in the area to shut down production until the storm passed.

Gulf Hurricanes: Fragile area braces against a new season in the wake of the second anniversary of the nation’s worst natural disaster.