2010 'one of worst' years for disasters: UN

Residents look at the remains of their village in Kinaredjo, Sleman, Indonesia, on Wednesday, a day after Mount Merapi erupted. (EPA) 2010 was one of the worst years on record for natural disasters over the past two decades, leaving nearly 297,000 people dead, research for the United Nations showed on Monday. The devastating earthquake in Haiti a year ago accounted for about two thirds of the toll, killing more than 222,500 people, according to the Belgium-based Centre for Research on the Epidemiology of Disasters (CRED). The CRED found that the summer heatwave in Russia was the second deadliest disaster of the year, leaving 55,736 people dead according to figures it compiled from insurers and media reports of official sources. The year was "one of the worst in decades in terms of the number of people killed and in terms of economic losses," Margareta Wahlstroem, UN special representative for disaster risk reduction, told journalists. "These figures are bad, but could be seen as benign in years to come," she said, pointing to the impact of unplanned growth of urban areas, environmental degradation and climate change. The economic cost of the 373 major disasters recorded in 2010 reached 109 billion dollars, headed by an estimated 30 billion dollars in damage caused by the powerful earthquake that struck Chile in February. The earthquake unleashed a tsunami that swept away villages and claimed most of the 521 dead. Summer floods and landslides in China caused an estimated 18 billion dollars in damage, while floods in Pakistan cost 9.5 billion dollars, according to the CRED's annual study. Although impoverished Haiti is still struggling to recover from the quake that devastated much of the capital, Port-au-Prince, it ranked lower down the global economic scale with an estimated eight billion dollars in losses. Asians accounted for 89 percent of the 207 million people affected by disasters worldwide last year, the CRED said.
Survivors Markus (L) and his sister Lisna cry after finding their mother's body in the tsunami devastated Monte village, North Pagai island part of Mentawai islands, West Sumatra Indonesia. (EPA)
Pakistan flood damages $9.5bn. (REUTERS)
Rescuers search for victims after a rain-triggered landslide struck Dazhai village yesterday. Hope of finding survivors was diminishing as rescuers used heavy machinery to search for over a hundred people trapped. (AP)
Rescuers and residents search the rubble after a massive landslide in Zhouqu, northwest China's Gansu province. (AFP)
155 dead, 24 missing in China floods; losses top $6.5bn. (SUPPLIED)
A bridge was destroyed during a massive earthquake in the coastal town of Dichato, Chile. One of the world's most powerful earthquakes in a century pounded Chile on Saturday, killing more than 300 people as it toppled buildings and triggered tsunamis that ravaged a port town and threatened Pacific coastlines as far away as Japan (REUTER)
People stand outside a house destroyed in an earthquake in Valparaiso. A massive magnitude-8.8 earthquake struck south-central Chile early on Saturday, knocking down homes and hospitals, and triggering a tsunami. (REUTERS)
A man sitting with his belongings outside his home in Talca, Chile. (REUTERS)
A Russian man moves debris inside the charred remains of his burnt out home in Voronezh on Wednesday. (AFP)
UAE's mobile hospital in Haiti includes a number of specialisations. (WAM)
A man carries an injured child in Port-au-Prince after the earthquake. (AP)
A woman is pulled from rubble after a quake measuring 7.0 rocked the Haitian capital Port-au-Prince. (AFP)
In this handout image provided by the United Nations, the downtown core shows the damage after an earthquake measuring 7.0 rocked the Haitian capital just before 5 pm on Wednesday in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. Much of Port-au-Prince was reduced to rubble by the quake on January 12, but the airport was operational, opening the way for international relief aid to be ferried in by air as well as by sea. (GETTY IMAGES)
People climb up a food distribution truck in Port-Au-Prince. (REUTERS)
A tent city set up at the Delmas 40B refugee camp in Haiti is home to more than 25,000 people. (AFP)