This is very good news and it
certainly needed to be said and noted even.
The reality is that the whole globe is advancing economically everywhere
despite the legions of naysayers peddling their version of the end is nigh. More importantly global communication density
has made it possible for potential victims to be alerted and to then side step
the danger.
The exceptions are tsunamis where
the time gap is simply too short. There
is simply not enough time after the shock of danger recognition for the victim
to react sensibly or even in time to save his life.
Otherwise, deaths by earthquakes
are effectively 98% preventable. Merely
compare the Haiti disaster
with one in California
Other wise it is all about floods
and those can always be sidestepped if timely warning is available. Everyone
knows what a tidal surge will do in the Bay of Bengal or the Gulf
of Mexico , but we now have at least a day’s notice to leave town. Most who drowned in New Orleans
Katrina did finally educate
otherwise sensible folks that been on the receiving end of a storm surge is no
option whatsoever. This was obscure in
the past but Katrina and the Boxing Day Tsunami ended any further ignorance.
Beach houses are nice, but no
place to be in the possible track of a hurricane.
Actually I would go a lot further
in this. I think that all communities
with a coastal waterfront should map all available high points and plan
marshalling routes in the event of an emergency. If time permits, these high points can be
used to route evacuation buses to remove people and eventually return
them. It is cheap to do and simple to
inform residents as part of the normal flow of annual communications between
local government of their residents.
Tsunamis never happen, but when
they do as a once ever event, it is then that everyone needs to know exactly
were to go now. How many would have been
saved in Japan had everyone one immediately proceeded to high ground as a
matter of course and general expectation?
There they had good systems in place but still not good enough. That size of quake demanded immediate
evacuation.
Deaths From Extreme Weather Events Have Fallen 98 Percent Since the
1920s
by Staff Writers
Despite concerns about global warming and a large increase in the
number of reported storms and droughts, the world's death rate from extreme
weather events was lower from 2000 to 2010 than it has been in any decade since
1900, according to a new Reason Foundation study.
The Reason Foundation report chronicles the number of worldwide deaths
caused by extreme weather events between 1900 and 2010 and finds global deaths
caused by extreme weather events peaked in the decade running from 1920 to
1929, when there were 241 deaths a year per million people in the world.
From 1930 to 1939 there were 208 deaths a year per million people. But
from 2000 to 2010 there were just 5.4 deaths a year per million people in the
world. That's a 98 percent decline in the weather-related death rate since the
1920s. Extreme weather events were responsible for just .07% of the world's
deaths between 2000 and 2010.
The extreme weather categories studied in the Reason Foundation report
include droughts, floods, wildfires, storms (hurricanes, cyclones, tornadoes,
typhoons, etc.) and extreme temperatures, both hot and cold.
Droughts were the most deadly extreme weather category between 1900 and
2010, responsible for over 60 percent of extreme weather deaths during that
time. The worldwide death rate from droughts peaked in the 1920s when there
were 235 deaths a year per million people.
Since then, the death rate has fallen by 99.9 percent. The study finds
that global food production advancements, such as new crops, improved
fertilizer, irrigation, and pesticides, along with society's better ability to
move food and medical supplies, were responsible for reducing the number of
deaths in times of severe drought.
Floods were to blame for 30 percent of the deaths during the timeframe
studied, making them the second most deadly extreme weather category.
The death rate for floods topped out in the 1930s at 204 deaths a year
per million people. Deaths from floods have fallen by over 98 percent since
then and there was an average of approximately one flood death per year per
million people from 2000 to 2010.
Deaths from storms spiked as recently as the 1970s, when there were 10
deaths a year per million people. But the death rate has dropped by 75 percent
since then, with storms being blamed for two deaths a year per million people
from 2000 to 2010.
The average number of extreme weather events recorded increased from
2.5 per year in the 1920s to 8.5 in the 1940s to 350 per year for the period
2000-2010.
The study notes technological and telecommunication advances made it
significantly easier to learn of and respond to weather events. Broader news
coverage and an increased tendency by authorities to declare natural disaster
emergencies have also contributed to the large uptick in the number of storms
recorded.
"Overall mortality around the world is increasing, while mortality
from weather events is decreasing," said Dr. Indur Goklany, the author of
the Reason Foundation study.
"Despite the intense media coverage of storms and climate change's
prominent role in political debates, humanity is coping far better with extreme
weather events than it is with other much more important health and safety
problems."
"The number of reported extreme weather events is increasing, but
the number of deaths and the risk of dying from those events have
decreased," said Julian Morris, the study's project director and vice president
of research at Reason Foundation.
"Economic development and technological improvements have enabled
society to protect against these events and to cope better with them when they
do occur." Full Report Online
No comments:
Post a Comment