Natural disasters: danger is expanding and losses are mounting

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Climate change
Natural disasters, as sources indicate, are a great disaster or devastation caused by a dangerous natural event, and there are multiple definitions of disaster defined by international organizations and bodies, and requires the definition of clarity, comprehensiveness, conciseness and accuracy of the choice of words, the United Nations defined the disaster as: tragic situation affected by its Everyday life is suddenly unpo[CENSORED]r, people need protection, clothing, shelter, medical and social care and other necessities of life. The International Civil Protection Organization defines a disaster as an unexpected accident caused by forces. Nature, or because of human action, entails loss of life and destruction of property, has a severe impact on the national economy and social life, exceeds the capacity of national resources and requires international assistance.

Many experts believe that the planet is exposed today to the risks due to worsening climate change, which in turn has exacerbated natural disasters such as earthquakes, hurricanes and global warming, which threatens to change the features of the world, most scientific reports blame the human responsibility for climate change, which threatens the planet with successive “During the past 30 years, the impact of natural disasters on human beings has been five times that of a generation. The situation is getting worse. The climate is changing, threatening Pogo,” says UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs Ban Egeland. Extreme weather events. In 2006 alone, 117 million people suffered from some 300 natural disaster including severe drought in China, Africa and flash floods in Asia and some regions of Africa, which led to a loss of about $ 15 billion.

Flood victims
In this regard, analyzes have shown that the number of people affected by river flooding globally will triple in the next 15 years. According to the World Resources Institute, this increase in floods is due to climate change and po[CENSORED]tion growth. The institute says the study is the first general analysis of all global data on river flood risk today and in the future. The study shows that about 20 million people are at risk of being affected by the floods at present, and that the total cost of destruction could be around £ 65 billion.

According to the new estimates, the number of people affected by the floods in 15 years could reach about 50 million people, at a cost of about £ 340 billion of the total global economy. This increase is due in large part to climate change and economic and social development. The World Bank says the data will help governments develop defense and flood prevention plans. According to the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), about half of the natural disasters it dealt with last year were caused by the flood.

Strong earthquakes in America
Meanwhile, US government scientists said that the chance of an earthquake with an intensity of eight or greater during the next three decades reaches seven percent, far higher than previously thought. The US Geological Survey (USGS) said in a new study that the probability of 7 percent is based on newly developed scientific models, while previous estimates by scientists point to a 4.7 percent probability over 30 years.

"We are fortunate that seismic activity in California has been relatively low over the last century," said Tom Jordan, director of the Southern California Seismological Center, who is involved in the study. "But we know that tectonic forces are constantly strengthening the severity of the San Andreas fault system, making major earthquakes unavoidable." ". Ned Field, lead supervisor of the Geological Survey report, said the new scientific modeling system takes into account the tremors that may occur on several other faults, rather than looking at each fault separately.

The Geological Survey said an earthquake of magnitude 8 or greater could destroy large areas. The new study reduced the likelihood of a moderate earthquake similar to the magnitude 6.7 earthquake in Northridge that killed 57 people in 1994. The agency said a 6.7 magnitude earthquake was likely to occur once every 6.3 years, compared to an earlier estimate of once every 4.8 years. . It was the largest recorded earthquake to hit California in 1857, which affected a 300-kilometer front from the San Andreas Corps. The agency said the highest number of deaths was caused by the 1906 San Francisco earthquake that killed 3,000 people.

A recent increase in activity around the hundreds of millions of years of seismic fault lines in the US state of Oklahoma could trigger a devastating earthquake in the state, which has seen several precautionary precautions in anticipation of increased seismic activity, a report said. The state, which has seen several hundred seismic events in the last five years, has a "high risk of seismic risk," said a study whose findings were approved and among which the researchers from the US Geological Survey said.

"Most of the earthquakes in central Oklahoma indicate renewed activity in faults at shallow depths of the Earth's crust," the report said. The report did not say whether the recurrence of these faults was linked to hydraulic fracturing technology for oil and gas extraction, which involves pumping water, sand and chemicals into an extraction well.

Daniel McNamara, a study co-author and a researcher with the US Geological Survey, said the faults below the Earth's crust, dating back 300 million years, were not previously active and were suspected of being linked to recent seismic activities. "Any of these fault zones could cause earthquakes of magnitude 3-4, which could become a major earthquake. There are also 12 different fault zones that can cause earthquakes greater than five to six degrees," he said. According to Reuters.

In November 2011, Oklahoma witnessed a 5.6 magnitude earthquake that destroyed more than a dozen homes and businesses. Oklahoma's building rules for earthquakes are not as tight as states more prone to earthquakes, such as California. Many scientists suspect that the wastewater used in hydraulic fracturing is increasing the likelihood of seismic activity, while the energy companies using it deny any connection to the seismic activity. Hydraulic fracturing involves transporting millions of gallons of wastewater from the fracture site to wells, pumping them and injecting them thousands of feet deep into the earth through the porous layers of the earth's crust.

Most earthquakes are caused by natural causes, but scientists associate some minor earthquakes with oil and gas extraction activities in the underground that would alter pressure distribution and disturb soil balance. In recent years, the United States has seen an increase in oil and gas exploration activities as part of US efforts to become self-reliant in the field of energy. Particularly controversial exploration and extraction activities are known as hydrothermal fractures.

Declining confidence
A year of disaster and mismanagement, including mysterious aircraft crashes, information penetration, foreign exchange mani[CENSORED]tion and the worst outbreak of Ebola, has undermined people's confidence in public bodies and business, according to a survey. The Edelman Confidence Index, published in Davos, showed a sharp drop in overall confidence, with confidence in governments, businesses, the media and non-governmental organizations falling below 50 percent in two-thirds of countries.

Places of distrust among the po[CENSORED]tion now include the United States, Japan, Germany, France, Britain, Italy, Russia and Turkey. The picture is particularly stark for the 1,500 business leaders gathering for the World Economic Forum from January 21 to 24 in Davos. Confidence in business has not only declined overall but confidence in executives as trusted people has declined for the third consecutive year.

The survey painted a swing image of technology that plays an increasingly central role in people's lives. The majority of respondents believe that technological innovations are occurring very quickly out of corporate greed rather than out of a desire to make the world a better place. But in a worrying sign for "old media," online search engines are now more trusted as a source of news and public information than traditional media. According to Reuters.

Consumers in all major industrialized countries want greater business regulation but have little confidence that policymakers will develop and enforce appropriate laws. The survey polled 27,000 people in 27 countries and was conducted between October 13 and November 24.

Losses multiply
Economic losses from natural disasters have tripled in the past 10 years, with farmers bearing nearly a quarter of the burden in poor countries, according to a UN study. Droughts, floods, storms and other natural disasters have cost the agriculture sector in developing countries $ 70 billion in damage between 2003 and 2013, according to the study by the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), announced at an international conference on disaster risk reduction in Sendai, Japan. . Asia was the region hardest hit with $ 28 billion in losses, followed by Africa with $ 26 billion, according to the study, which analyzed data from 78 disasters in 48 developing countries.

The new study showed that agriculture accounted for 22 percent of the total loss, prompting FAO officials to call for increased subsidies to farmers to cope with the crisis. Only 4.5 percent of humanitarian aid provided after disasters between 2003 and 2013 targeted agriculture, the study said. The world's 2.5 billion people depend on agriculture for their livelihoods, with small farmers, herders and fishermen representing the most vulnerable communities. According to Reuters.

Jose Graziano da Silva, director-general of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), said in a statement that in order to protect farmers, countries "must step up their preparedness to quickly respond to disasters as they happen." Many observers link the high rates and severity of losses caused by natural disasters with climate change. In order to reduce the burden on farmers of these crises, an early warning system, improved food production methods and better information gathering are needed to determine the extent of disasters to cope, the study said.