• The second Wednesday in October is International Day for Natural Disaster Reduction which focuses on the urgent need for prevention activities to reduce loss of life, damage to property, infrastructure and environment, and the social and economic disruption caused by natural disasters.
  
• In 2008 there were 354 natural disasters in which 236,000 people died and 211,628,186 were affected. This compares to the average for 2000-2007 of 397 natural disasters, with 66,812 deaths and a total of 231,588,104 people affected.

• Asia was the region worst affected in 2008 with 141 events including, Cyclone Nargis in Burma which left nearly 140,000 people dead (or missing, presumed dead) and an earthquake in Sichuan, China killing 87,476 which made up 93% of the global disaster toll.

• 2008 was the deadliest year since 2004, the year of the Indian Ocean tsunami.

• Disasters affect the world's poorest the hardest – 65% from 1991-2005 occurred in developing countries. Although climatological disasters were less numerous in 2008 compared to the annual average of 2000-2007, the number of victims increased by 30%, mainly due to extreme winter conditions in China (77 million victims), and droughts in Africa (14 million victims) and Asia (12 million victims).

• More than one third of the populations in Djibouti, Somalia and Eritrea were affected by drought. Tajikistan also experienced droughts that affected over 2 million people.

• China was the most affected economically. The economies of Myanmar and Tajikistan were largely affected during 2008, with damage costs representing nearly 30% and 22% of GDP, respectively

By: Anna 7A