Natural Disasters Case

Natural Disasters

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Natural Disasters

Natural disasters are catastrophic events caused by nature’s forces that often lead to the destruction of property and loss of lives. Such include earthquakes, floods, volcanic eruptions, avalanches, tsunamis, forest fires and many others. Studies reveal that each year thousands of people get affected by natural disasters, the severity depending on the affected country’s ability to recover as well as its resilience. Statistics indicate that in 2011, there were 800 natural disasters worldwide, the overall costs were estimated to be close to US$180 billion, with insured losses amounting to $75 billion (Gow & Paton, 2008). This work presents a comprehensive analysis of the various forms of natural disasters and their impacts on the affected populations.

Floods in Bangladesh

Bangladesh is a country on the delta of two rivers; Brahmaputra and Ganges. Consequently, the delta offers fertile land suitable for the growth of rice. The country, however lies a few meters above the sea level, making it more prone to flooding. Traditionally, Bangladesh experiences severe floods towards the end of the year in the offset of the summer to the monsoon season. The recent devastating flood that hit the country recently was the one that occurred in 2007 where more than half of the country was left in water, close to 2000 people died, roads and buildings destroyed and the crop yields drastically reduced. Additionally, many more were left homeless. With the crops damaged, and a massive population of 150 million, the country had to endure through a tough period of severe food and water shortages (Davis, 2008).

The severe flooding led to the damaging of crops, homes, hospitals, schools, and many other public facilities. In response to the calamity, The Asia Foundation in partnership with various business associations helped to address most of the challenges faced by the residents and focused on the immediate and urgent rescue missions including the delivery of water, food and medicine. With efforts from the private sector in addition to the available resources, the country embarked on the restoration of the infrastructure, in addition, they set up tube wells in the regions prone to the storms to aid in the access to clean drinking water (Gow & Paton , 2008). In essence, the country to a great extent recovered from the devastation and currently sets up measures on how to cope during periods of storms. The country is also common with landslides, earthquakes and tornadoes.

Tsunamis in Thailand

Gow & Paton (2008), describe a Tsunami as a huge collection of ocean waves that pushes surges of water onto land and often leads to massive destruction and in most instances results in the loss of life. The 2004, Boxing Day tsunami goes down in history as the worst ever to have hit the country of Thailand. An earthquake of high magnitude led to a tsunami that swept along the coastal areas affecting six provinces. In particular, close to 6000 people died, 3000 could not be traced while many other others were seriously injured. Most families remained homeless as many houses were completely destroyed. The country’s tourism industry was the hardest hit as the tsunami resulted in massive job loss and huge losses (Davis, 2008).

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