Measuring the Human and Economic Impact of Disasters

During the past decade, incidents of natural disasters that meet EMDAT criteria have increased six fold compared to the 1960s and the increase is mainly due to small and medium scale disasters. Of the total, almost 90% are hydrometeorological events such as droughts, storms and floods and scientific evidence suggests that global climate change will only increase the number of extreme events, creating more frequent and intensified environmental emergencies.