STATUS OF MORTALITY AND ECONOMIC LOSSES DUE TO WEATHER-, CLIMATE- AND WATER-RELATED HAZARDS FROM 1970 TO 2019
Top 10 deaths and economic losses
Of the top 10 disasters, the hazards that led to the largest human losses during the period have been droughts (650 000 deaths), storms (577 232 deaths), floods (58 700 deaths) and extreme temperature (55 736 deaths) (Table 1(a)). With regard to economic losses, the top 10 events include storms (US$ 521 billion) and floods (US$ 115 billion) (Table 1(b)). All the storm events positioned in top 10 categories in terms of both deaths and economic losses were tropical cyclones. Three of the top 10 disasters in terms of economic losses occurred in 2017: Hurricanes Harvey (US$ 96.9 billion), Maria (US$ 69.4 billion) and Irma (US$ 58.2 billion). These three hurricanes alone accounted for 35% of the total economic losses of the top 10 disasters around the world from 1970 to 2019.
Floods were most common of the weather-, climate, water-related disaster types recorded, but storms had the highest human and economic toll.
WMO Atlas of Mortality and Economic Losses from Weather, Climate and Water Extremes (1970–2019)
https://library.wmo.int/doc_num.php?explnum_id=10989
STATUS OF MORTALITY AND ECONOMIC LOSSES DUE TO WEATHER-, CLIMATE- AND WATER-RELATED HAZARDS FROM 1970 TO 2019
Top 10 deaths and economic losses
Of the top 10 disasters, the hazards that led to the largest human losses during the period have been droughts (650 000 deaths), storms (577 232 deaths), floods (58 700 deaths) and extreme temperature (55 736 deaths) (Table 1(a)). With regard to economic losses, the top 10 events include storms (US$ 521 billion) and floods (US$ 115 billion) (Table 1(b)). All the storm events positioned in top 10 categories in terms of both deaths and economic losses were tropical cyclones. Three of the top 10 disasters in terms of economic losses occurred in 2017: Hurricanes Harvey (US$ 96.9 billion), Maria (US$ 69.4 billion) and Irma (US$ 58.2 billion). These three hurricanes alone accounted for 35% of the total economic losses of the top 10 disasters around the world from 1970 to 2019.
Floods were most common of the weather-, climate, water-related disaster types recorded, but storms had the highest human and economic toll.