NATURAL DISASTER

Natural disasters are a consequence of a combination of natural events (a physical

event, such as volcanic eruptions, earthquakes, landslides) and human activity. Due to
the powerlessness of human beings, due to lack of good emergency management,
causing losses in financial and structural, even until death. The resulting loss depends
on the ability to prevent or avoid disasters and their durability [1]. This understanding
is associated with the statement: "The disaster comes when the threat of danger met
with powerlessness." Thus, the activity of a dangerous nature will not be a natural
disaster in areas without human powerlessness, as earthquakes in uninhabited areas.
Consequently, the use of the term "nature" is also challenged because the event is not
only a danger or catastrophe without human involvement. The amount of potential
losses also depend on the shape of the dangers of its own, ranging from fires, which
threaten individual buildings, to large meteor collision events that have the potential
to end civilization of mankind.

However, in areas with high hazard rate (hazard) and has a susceptibility /
vulnerability (vulnerability) are also high will not give a great impact / area if people
who were there have the resilience to disasters (disaster resilience). The concept of
disaster resilience is a valuation system capabilities and infrastructure to detect,
prevent and deal with serious challenges that are present. Thus, although the disaster-
prone area with a large population when matched with adequate ketetahanan disaster.
 The world's worst natural disasters
The following is a list of some of the worst natural calamities to strike the world since
1900. The list is by definition arguable. Earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, tsunamis,
cyclones, hurricanes and other storms are all clearly natural phenomena.

But the picture is less clear for disasters like floods and famine. What some people
may consider a natural disaster, others may consider more of a political act (for
instance, some of the world's deadliest floods and famines were caused, at least in
part, by policy decisions taken by hostile, indifferent or negligent regimes).

For our purposes, we have included floods and famines as well as flu pandemics on
the assumption that disasters that are not man-made are, by definition, natural.

This list is also limited to disasters since 1900 — an arbitrary cut-off to be sure — but
one made to reflect so-called "modern-day" disasters only.

The death tolls from disasters in the long-distant past are, at best, rough estimates. But
there can be no doubt that our pre-1900 ancestors endured some appalling calamaties
such as the bubonic plague ("The Black Death") that spread through Europe
beginning in 1348 and wiped out an estimated one-third of humanity, or about 25
million people.

Earthquakes and tsunamis

Jan. 12, 2010. More than 230,000 people were killed when a 7.0-magnitude
earthquake struck Haiti.

May 12, 2008. About 70,000 people were killed and 18,000 people were reported
missing after a 7.9-magnitude earthquake struck Sichuan, China.

Oct. 8, 2005. At least 80,000 people were killed and three million left homeless after a
quake struck the mountaineous Kashmir district in Pakistan.

Dec. 26, 2004. A magnitude 9.0 quake struck off the coast of Sumatra, triggering
tsunamis that swept through the coastal regions of a dozen countries bordering the
Indian Ocean. The death toll has been estimated at between 225,000 and 275,000.
Dec. 26, 2003. An earthquake devastated the ancient city of Bam, in central Iran,
leaving between 31,000 and 43,000 people dead.

Rosa Castillo cries in front of the remains of

her house in Choluteca, in southern Honduras, Nov. 9, 1998. Neigbourhood were
wiped out by the Choluteca river when the river overflowed due to heavy rains caused
by Tropical Storm Mitch. (Scott Dalton/Associated Press)

July 28, 1976. The 20th century's most devastating quake (magnitude 7.8) hit the
sleeping city of Tangshan in northeast China. The official death toll was 242,000.
Unofficial estimates put the number as high as 655,000.

Oct. 5, 1948 - More than 110,000 were killed when a 7.3 quake rolled through the
area around Ashgebat in Turkmenistan.

May 22, 1927. A magnitude 7.9 quake near Xining, China, killed 200,000

Sept. 1, 1923. A third of Tokyo and most of Yokohama were levelled when a
magnitude 8.3 earthquake shook Japan. About 143,000 were killed as fires ravaged
much of Tokyo.

Dec. 16, 1920. China was also the site for the world's third-deadliest quake of the 20th
century. An estimated 200,000 died when a magnitude 8.6 temblor hit Gansu,
triggering massive landslides.

Dec. 28, 1908. Southern Italy was ravaged by a 7.2 magnitude quake that triggered a
tsunami that hit the Messina-Reggio-Calabria area, killing 123,000.
Volcanic eruptions

July 15, 1991. Mt. Pinatubo on Luzon Island in the Philippines erupted, blanketing
750 square kilometres with volcanic ash. More than 800 died.

Nov. 13-14, 1985. At least 25,000 are killed near Armero, Colombia, when the
Nevado del Ruiz volcano erupted, triggering mudslides.

May 8, 1902. Mt. Pelee erupted on the Caribbean island of Martinique, destroying the
capital city of St. Pierre. Up to 40,000 were killed. The day before, a volcano had
killed 1,600 people on the nearby island of St. Vincent and five months later Mt.
Santa Maria erupted in Guatemala, killing another 6,000.

(Two of the most famous eruptions took place before 1900. In 1883, two-thirds of the
Indonesian island of Krakatoa was destroyed when a volcano erupted. A resulting
series of tsunamis killed more than 36,000. In 79 CE, Mt. Vesuvius erupted in
southern Italy, destroying the ancient Roman city of Pompeii and two other
communities. Thousands died.)

Hurricanes, cyclones and floods

July-August 2010. Floods triggered by heavier-than-normal monsoon rains hit

northwest Pakistan. By the time the waters began to recede in late August, more than
160,000 square kilometres of land — about one-fifth of the country — was under
water. More than 1,700 people were killed and 17.2 million people have been
affected.

May 3, 2008. Cyclone Nargis, swept along by winds that exceeded 190 kmh and
waves six metres high struck the Burmese peninsula and may have left as many as
100,000 dead, according to U.S. estimates.

Oct. 26-Nov. 4, 1998. Hurricane Mitch was the deadliest hurricane to hit the
Americas. It killed 11,000 in Honduras and Nicaragua and left 2.5 million homeless.

Aug. 5, 1975. At least 85,000 were killed along the Yangtze River in China when
more than 60 dams failed following a series of storms, causing widespread flooding
and famine. This disaster was kept secret by the Chinese government for 20 years.

August 1971. An estimated 100,000 died when heavy rains led to severe flooding
around Hanoi in what was then North Vietnam.

Nov. 13, 1970. The Bhola cyclone in the Ganges delta killed an estimated 500,000 in
Bangladesh. Some put the complete death toll as high as one million.

June, 1938. Nationalist Chinese soldiers, under the direction of Chiang Kai-Shek,
blew up dikes around the Yellow River to stop Japanese troops from advancing. More
than half a million people died in the resulting flood.

May-August 1931. Massive flooding of China's Yellow and Yangtze rivers led to
almost four million deaths from drowning, disease and starvation. The flooding of the
Yangtze also killed an estimated 100,000 in 1911 and 140,000 in 1935.

Pandemics and famines

1900 to present. Malaria is one of the leading causes of death in the developing world
even though it is curable and largely preventable. According to the World Health
Organization, malaria causes severe illness in 500 million people each year and kills
more than a million annually.

1984-1985. Famine killed at least one million in Ethiopia as severe drought led to
desperate food shortages.
1980 to present. Toll from AIDS worldwide since 1980 is estimated at 25 million,
with 40 million others infected with HIV.

1968. The Hong Kong flu became the third flu pandemic of the 20th century.

1965-67. Three years of drought in India resulted in an estimated 1.5 million deaths
from starvation and disease. Severe Indian droughts also killed millions in 1900 and
1942.

1959-1961. The "Great Leap Famine" cost an estimated 20 to 40 million lives in

China as the policies of Mao Zedong resulted in massive social and economic
upheaval. China was also hit by large famines in 1907, 1928-1930, 1936 and 1941-
1942.

1957-1958. The Asian flu swept around the world, killing an estimated two million
and making it the second biggest flu pandemic of the century.

1932-1933. Failures in Soviet central planning and Stalin's decision to withhold food
from the Ukraine led to huge loss of life. At least five million Ukrainians were among
the seven million victims of that famine.

1921. A Soviet famine in 1921 began with a drought that caused massive crop
failures. The initial death toll was greatly magnified when Lenin refused to
acknowledge the famine and sent no aid. The Soviets later estimated that 5.1 million
died.

1918-1919. An epidemic of "Spanish Flu" spread around the world. At least 20

million died, although some estimates put the final toll at 50 million. It's estimated
that between 20 per cent and 40 per cent of the entire world's population became sick.