Threefold increase in natural disaster-related deaths in Asia-Pacific

Mintnews reports on the statistical increase in deaths caused by natural disasters recorded in recent decades in the Asia-Pacific region:

The Asia-Pacific region has experienced a threefold increase in deaths caused by natural disasters in recent decades.
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The Asia-Pacific region has recorded a near threefold rise in deaths because of natural disasters, with over 700,000 recorded deaths between 2004 and 2013.

The region also witnessed over 40% of the world’s reported natural disasters during the same period which caused economic damage of over $560 billion. The Asia-Pacific region recorded a total of 713,956 deaths between 2004 and 2013, compared with 205,388 deaths between 1994 and 2003, according to the Statistical Yearbook for Asia and the Pacific 2014, published by the UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP).

Of the over 710,000 deaths during 2004-13, Southeast Asia, predominantly Indonesia and the Philippines, was the hardest hit with a total of 354,293 deaths. Between January and August, there have been 32 natural disasters in 20 Asia-Pacific countries, of which eight occurred in Indonesia alone.

To read more about the changing world and what you can do to prepare, visit: www.greatwavesofchange.org