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Disaster toll tripled in 2003 amid quakes, heatwave (Agencies) Updated: 2004-10-28 09:04
Natural disasters killed 76,806 people in 2003, three times the number of
victims in 2002, a rise due in part to extremes in the global climate, the
world's largest humanitarian body said on Thursday.
An earthquake that killed 31,000 people in the Iranian city of Bam and a
heat wave in Europe that killed 35,000, accounted for the higher toll, the
International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies said.
In all, a quarter of a billion people were affected by drought, floods
and earthquakes, which caused at least $56 billion in damage in 2003, twice the
cost of the previous year, the Federation said in its annual "World Disasters
Report".
"Overall numbers of reported disasters are increasing, driven partly by a
more variable climate. Meanwhile, a rapid increase of population in poorer parts
of the world ... is putting more people at risk," the report said.
In recent years more accurate satellite forecasting and early warning
systems have saved lives.
The report said first-aid training, emergency drills and safe building
practices can help prevent human and economic losses in risk-prone communities.
Lack of disaster awareness and poor enforcement of building codes in Bam
killed many inhabitants in the quake that measured 6.8 on the Richter scale, the
report said.
The quake, which also left 30,000 homeless, exposed "serious failures in
the country's disaster management, including competition between the army and
the Red Crescent", it said.
"Bam will not be Iran's last major earthquake -- the country is
criss-crossed with fault lines, many of them near large population centres," it
said, naming Tehran, Mashhad and Tabriz.
With a population of 12 million, the Federation said Tehran was a "time
bomb". It was last hit by a major earthquake in 1830.
The report found that local rescuers were quicker and often more
effective than international teams.
Iranian rescue teams saved "seven times more people than all the
international teams that flew in from abroad", said the report's author Jonathan
Walter at a news conference.
But more funding is needed from donor countries to develop the ability of
countries to tackle emergencies alone as international teams are more expensive.
In one example of better local readiness, the report said residents of
the Tuti island, in the heart of Sudan's capital Khartoum, were more prepared to
cope with floods.
Houses had raised entrances and water-resistant mud was used on walls. A
flood commmittee organised 24-hour patrols, while volunteers used drums and the
mosque's megaphone to warn the population when river waters rose.
As a result, Tuti's 15,000 residents withstood flooding without major
casualties or by depending on external aid.
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