ReliefWeb

Natural disasters in 2011

In 2011, 302 natural disasters were recorded in the EM-DAT database. They claimed over 29,780 lives, affected nearly 206 million others and caused record economic damages of US$366 billion.

The Great East Japan earthquake and tsunami in March claimed 19,846 lives and cost US$210 billion. The December storm Sendong (Washi) in the Philippines caused 1,430 deaths. Floods in Thailand from August to December caused US$40 billion economic damages. Floods in China in June affected 36 million people and droughts from January to June affected 35 million in the country.

Asia was hit by 137 disasters, representing a global share of 45%, of which 33 occurred in the Philippines and 21 in China. Over 85% of those killed and those affected globally and 75% of economic damages were also in Asia. On the other hand, Europe experienced very few disasters and impacts in 2011. Globally, earthquakes and tsunamis were responsible for 20,943 deaths, or 70%, while floods killed 5,202 (17%) and storms another 3,076 people (10%).

The disaster occurrence and human impact figures in 2011 were below the average of the last decade. However, the economic losses from disasters in 2011 were the largest ever registered, much higher than those documented in the last record year of 2005 (US$243 billion).

Major disasters in 2011 in terms of human impact and economic losses occurred in high and middle-income countries, which have the resources for better disaster prevention. Given the importance of good data for policy, a stronger global approach to disaster data collection is important for more effective policy development.

Debarati Guha-Sapir Director, CRED