Three G8 countries- France, Italy and the United States- are considered to be at “high risk” to natural disasters, claims the Natural Disasters Risk Index (NDRI).
The same index, released on Thursday, lists Bangladesh, Iran and Indonesia as the countries which are most vulnerable to natural calamities, whereas Asian giants India and China, rated 11th and 12th respectively, are part of the same “extreme risk” category which has 15 countries out of a total of 229.
The countries which are least at risk include Qatar, Andorra, San Marino, Bahrain, Liechtenstein, Monaco, Malta and The United Arab Emirates.
Compiled by Maplecroft, a risk advisory firm from Britain, the index takes into account the disasters that occurred during the thirty years from 1980 to this year. Several factors are taken into account, mainly the number and frequency of such disasters, the total lives that were lost and the lives lost as percentage of the population of the country affected. It includes disasters such as earthquakes, tsunamis, storms, droughts, floods, volcanic eruptions, landslides and epidemics.
Maplecroft’s environment analyst, Anna Moss said that poverty formed an important factor in countries where the frequency and effects of such natural calamities are severe. She added that sub-standard infrastructure and overpopulation of plains and other high risk areas like slopes and reclaimed land were instrumental in notching up a high number of casualties.
As per the NDRI’s figures, Bangladesh lost 191,000 lives during this period and Indonesia was almost equal, with most of the lives lost in the tsunami in December 2004. 74,000 lives were lost in Iran, most of them due to earthquakes.
141,000 lives were lost in India- 50,000 attributed to earthquakes, 23000 to storms, 40000 to floods and 15000 lives were lost to epidemics. China lost 148,000 lives- 87000 of those to an earthquake in Sichuan in 2008.
France was 17th in the rankings and Italy was at 18th position, mainly due to devastating heat waves in 2003 and 2006, and the United States was 37th, pounded by the hurricane Katrina in the year 2005.
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