Natural Disasters 'Killed Over 220,000' in 2008

[Zeno Swijtink]

Acts of God ....

Natural Disasters 'Killed Over 220,000' in 2008
Agence France-Presse (France)

Natural disasters killed over 220,000 people in 2008, making it one of the most devastating years on record and underlining the need for a global climate deal, the world's number two reinsurer said Monday.

Although the number of natural disasters was lower than in 2007, the catastrophes that occurred proved to be more destructive in terms of the number of victims and the financial cost of the damage caused, Germany-based Munich Re said in its annual assessment.

"This continues the long-term trend we have been observing. Climate change has already started and is very probably contributing to increasingly frequent weather extremes and ensuing natural catastrophes," Munich Re board member Torsten Jeworrek said.

Most devastating in terms of human fatalities was Cyclone Nargis, which lashed Myanmar on May 2-3 to kill more than 135,000 people and leave more than one million homeless.

Just days later an earthquake shook China's Sichuan province, leaving 70,000 dead, 18,000 missing and almost five million homeless, according to official figures, Munich Re said.

Around 1,000 people died in a severe cold snap in January in Afghanistan, Kyrgystan and Tajikistan, while 635 perished in August and September in floods in India, Nepal and Bangladesh.

Typhoon Fengshen killed 557 people in China and the Philippines in June, while earthquakes in Pakistan in October left 300 dead.

Six tropical cyclones also slammed into the southern United States, including Ike which, with insured losses of 10 billion dollars, was the industry's costliest catastrophe of the year.

In Europe, an intense low-pressure system called Emma caused two billion dollars worth of damage in March, while a storm dubbed Hilal in late May and early June left 1.1 billion dollars' worth.

The earthquake in Sichuan province was the most expensive overall single catastrophe of 2008, causing around 85 billion dollars worth of damage, helping to make the year the third most expensive on record, Munich Re said.

With 200 billion dollars' worth of damage, only 2005, when a large number of hurricanes slammed into the southern United States, and 1995, year of the Kobe earthquake in Japan, wreaked more destruction since records began in 1900.

According to provisional estimates from the World Meteorological Organization, 2008 was the tenth warmest year since the beginning of routine temperature recording and the eighth warmest in the northern hemisphere.

This means that the ten warmest years ever recorded have all occurred in the last 12 years, Munich Re said.

"It is now very probable that the progressive warming of the atmosphere is due to the greenhouse gases emitted by human activity. The weather machine is running in top gear, bringing more intense severe weather events," it said.

The number of tropical cyclones in the North Atlantic in 2008 was much higher than the long-term average, and in terms of both the total number of storms and the number of major hurricanes, 2008 was the fourth most severe hurricane season since reliable data have been available, it said.

The world needed "effective and binding rules on CO2 emissions, so that climate change is curbed and future generations do not have to live with weather scenarios that are difficult to control," board member Jeworrek said.

Last December, the international community agreed in Bali on a two-year roadmap culminating in a new global climate deal to be signed in Copenhagen in December 2009.

Unprecedented in scale and complexity, this accord, due to take effect from 2012, is meant to rein in the greenhouse gases that stoke global warming and throw a lifeline to poor countries exposed to mutated weather patterns.

[Lorrie]

Oh, FYI I read on line (you get to decide how factual lol) I read that ALOT of psychics are predicting that 2009 will be a year of massively spread around the world and Western USA...
EARTHQUAKES!!!

Get prepared people!


Do earthquakes here have to do with global warming too?

[Sylph]

Oh, FYI I read on line (you get to decide how factual lol) I read that ALOT of psychics are predicting that 2009 will be a year of massively spread around the world and Western USA...
EARTHQUAKES!!!

Get prepared people!

Well, we should be prepared Now!
Are Earthquakes Really on the Increase?
"According to long-term records (since about 1900), we expect about 17 major earthquakes (7.0 - 7.9) and one great earthquake (8.0 or above) in any given year."
The incidence has been about the same every year...so we shall see if those psychics are right. I'll put up $5 that there won't be significantly more earthquakes!

[Lorrie]

You're on!
Wait are we talking significantly more quakes like how many or are we talking about a big one here?

Well, we should be prepared Now!
Are Earthquakes Really on the Increase?
"According to long-term records (since about 1900), we expect about 17 major earthquakes (7.0 - 7.9) and one great earthquake (8.0 or above) in any given year."
The incidence has been about the same every year...so we shall see if those psychics are right. I'll put up $5 that there won't be significantly more earthquakes!

[Sylph]

You're on!
Wait are we talking significantly more quakes like how many or are we talking about a big one here?

Alright! So, how about 20% more big (over 7) earthquakes. If there are about 17 a year...you win if there are over 20 in a year. I don't even know what natural variation is on this, but I'd go with this figure if you want.

[Lorrie]

How about if we bet that in the year of 2009 if an earthquake at a scale of 5.0 or higher on the West Coast or our area. I win. If not you win. ??

https://quake.wr.usgs.gov/recenteqs/Quakes/quakes0.html

Alright! So, how about 20% more big (over 7) earthquakes. If there are about 17 a year...you win if there are over 20 in a year. I don't even know what natural variation is on this, but I'd go with this figure if you want.

[Braggi]

... I read that ALOT of psychics are predicting that 2009 will be a year of massively spread around the world and Western USA...
EARTHQUAKES!!! ...

Lorrie, psychics don't predict anything with accuracy better than anyone else.

If psychics really could predict anything with something better than normal accuracy, they'd all be rich ... and they're not (unless they ripped off some rich person).

Sorry.

-Jeff

[Sylph]

[quote=Lorrie;78357]How about if we bet that in the year of 2009 if an earthquake at a scale of 5.0 or higher on the West Coast or our area. I win. If not you win. ??

Well, I don't know. How representative is one large-ish earthquake in one small corner of the world? I think it would have to be 'general increase in earthquakes', that is, all around the world, which can be measured these days. What did the psychics say, "there would be more earthquakes"? That is a pretty safe thing to say. When a big earthquake happens next year...and it will, somewhere, the psychic can say, "There you go, I told ya'".

[Sara S]

CHEYENNE, Wyo. (AP) - Scientists are closely monitoring more than 250 small earthquakes that have occurred in Yellowstone National Park since Friday.

Swarms of small earthquakes happen frequently in Yellowstone. But Robert Smith, a professor of geophysics at the University of Utah, says it's very unusual to have so many over several days.

The largest tremor was Saturday and measured magnitude 3.8.

Smith says it's hard to say what might be causing the tremors but notes that Yellowstone is very geologically active. An active volcano there last erupted 70,000 years ago.

www.kutv.com/content/news/topnews/story/Scientists-watch-unusual-Yellowstone-quake-swarm/qjvsOhIR4U2wi4m_dsBeUQ.cspx

[quote=Sylph;78376]

How about if we bet that in the year of 2009 if an earthquake at a scale of 5.0 or higher on the West Coast or our area. I win. If not you win. ??

Well, I don't know. How representative is one large-ish earthquake in one small corner of the world? I think it would have to be 'general increase in earthquakes', that is, all around the world, which can be measured these days. What did the psychics say, "there would be more earthquakes"? That is a pretty safe thing to say. When a big earthquake happens next year...and it will, somewhere, the psychic can say, "There you go, I told ya'".

[Lorrie]

Duh, Jeff. But thanks for saving me from relying my whole life around what the psychics say!!! That was close! I have to think....Ah! I got it...
I don't need psychics anyway, I have tarot and horoscopes and spam to make me rich, all knowing, and able to expect the unexpected!

Lorrie, psychics don't predict anything with accuracy better than anyone else.

If psychics really could predict anything with something better than normal accuracy, they'd all be rich ... and they're not (unless they ripped off some rich person).

Sorry.

-Jeff

I was being facetious with that post!!

[Lorrie]

Well okay lets think about this...
It seems to me that that last 5+ earthquake here was what 8-10years ago? I know that China is terribly active and happens more there than here. (lately)
So I figured we could keep it to the western us. Because the predictions are close to here, that there will be way bigger than a 5+ earthquake.

Sara...I only need one earthquake.
Well actually I don't even need that, but for the bet sake.

I don't want to curse the world with this bet you know? I might win And if its your way then whole country will be a devistating demolishment...
I don't think I could bear it....so lets just say ONE earthquake over 5.0...hmm?
Just in case.


[quote=Sara S;78393]CHEYENNE, Wyo. (AP) - Scientists are closely monitoring more than 250 small earthquakes that have occurred in Yellowstone National Park since Friday.

Swarms of small earthquakes happen frequently in Yellowstone. But Robert Smith, a professor of geophysics at the University of Utah, says it's very unusual to have so many over several days.

The largest tremor was Saturday and measured magnitude 3.8.

Smith says it's hard to say what might be causing the tremors but notes that Yellowstone is very geologically active. An active volcano there last erupted 70,000 years ago.

www.kutv.com/content/news/topnews/story/Scientists-watch-unusual-Yellowstone-quake-swarm/qjvsOhIR4U2wi4m_dsBeUQ.cspx

[Sara S]

Well, you know, the I Ching has been accurately predicting stuff for over 4,000 years; I've been using it for over 25 years, and it's never been wrong. Personal experiences on request.

Sara

Duh, Jeff. But thanks for saving me from relying my whole life around what the psychics say!!! That was close! I have to think....Ah! I got it...
I don't need psychics anyway, I have tarot and horoscopes and spam to make me rich, all knowing, and able to expect the unexpected!


I was being facetious with that post!!