This project focuses on assessing the impact of disasters on human life through visualizations developed using different platforms.
Link to Dashboard - https://sites.google.com/view/impact-of-disasters/home
INTRODUCTION A disaster is a major event that occurs over a short or long period of time and results in widespread human, material, economic, or environmental loss; this loss causes enormous disruptions to the affected community's or society's ability to deal with its own resources. Natural, man-made, and technical risks as well as various elements that influence a community's exposure and vulnerability can all contribute to disasters.
Natural disasters are physical occurrences that occur in nature.
They are categorized as follows:
Hydrological: They result from the existence, movement, and distribution of water on the surface of the earth. They can take the form of trapped gasses being released unexpectedly from the depths of the ocean or lakes, spontaneous changes in water quality, and water movement or distribution in the atmosphere and above or below the earth's surface. For example Flash floods, Tsunami.
Climatological: They result from the drastic changes in the state and variability of the climatic conditions. For example Droughts, wildfires.
Meteorological: Changes in the environment that are violent, rapid, and devastating and are caused by, affect the earth's atmosphere, particularly weather-forming processes. For example Hail, Storms.
Biological: Induced by contact with living organisms and their hazardous substances or diseases For example disease outbreaks and insect/animal plagues, COVID-19.
Geophysical: These disasters are caused by earthly things like tectonic plates and seismic activities underneath the Earth. Most geophysical disasters involve the movement of the ground and eventually lead to other minor disasters like floods.
A technological disaster is an occurrence caused by a technological failure and/or human error in the control or handling of technology. Technological catastrophes can be classified as man-made disasters since they have an "identifiable cause." For example oil spills, radiation leaks.
Both natural and technological catastrophes affect millions of people every year, and their consequences can be disastrous. Natural catastrophes may ruin entire countries in an instant, from the loss of buildings to the spread of diseases. Droughts, earthquakes, and floods not just on land, but also on people's lives in both densely populated cities and isolated villages. In the event of a disaster, one could risk death or serious injury. One could potentially lose your home, belongings, and sense of community. One is at risk for emotional and physical health problems as a result of such pressures.
According to a survey published, since the past decade, disasters have impacted over 5 billion people, claiming approximately 2 million deaths and causing US$2.5 trillion in economic losses.
In the past 20 years, 90 percent of major disasters have been caused by a huge number of recorded floods, storms, heat waves, droughts and other weather events. Indonesia, India and the Philippines are among the five countries hit by the highest number of disasters, besides the United States and China.
In the last ten years, the world has experienced more natural disasters when compared to technological ones. These natural disasters mostly involved the shaking of the earth and other geographical elements. Widespread unexpected diseases or germs causing illness to the people globally is the least impactful disaster that occurred during the last decade. Disasters involving climatic conditions and water bodies also occurred with a noticeable percentage.
Analyzing Year-Wise Deaths
Overall, people who died due to natural disasters seem to fluctuate throughout the decade. During the first half of the decade, the deaths caused by technical mistakes committed by humans or other elements showed an increasing trend. While it came decreasing for the rest of decade. The years 2013 to 2015 had most of the deaths caused by natural hazards.
During the past 10 years, floods are the number one cause for the unexpected imbalance in the environment. Around 22% of the total disasters involve transportation accidents. The top 3 frequently occurring disasters contribute 70% of the total occurrences
Over the years, floods have always been the topmost disaster in Asian countries that caused the highest number of deaths and people affected. Taking Africa into consideration the floods surged in the years 2019-2020. The floods that occurred in 2016 had a major impact leaving America at the second position in the number of people affected. Oceania has always been least prone to floods.
25 percent of people who were involved in the transport accidents lost their lives. The transport accidents had a severe effect on life and further analysis on the transportation sector is depicted below.
About 85% of the deaths are caused by water and road transportation methods. Half of the deaths are caused by only water accidents. While the number of people who lost their lives due to rail accidents is very low comparatively.
For a broader picture of each disaster contribution towards death count across continents for the whole decade 2012-22. Take a look at the Donut chart given below.
Analyzing Country Wise Deaths
The majority of the deaths in the United States in the past decade are caused by Storms followed by heatwaves and the country was least affected by Earthquakes. It is suggestible that the United States should focus on prevention measures that will reduce the impact of storms on people. For example, by asking people to relocate.
France is highly affected by extreme temperatures as number of deaths are very high compared to its low population.
CONCLUSION
Disasters had always been a cause for both economic as well as social loss. Therefore, policymakers of all the continents across the world should always maintain a stable economic as well as infrastructural contribution towards the prevention, action as well as recovery from the impact of any disaster that occurs. Continuous analysis of the disasters and their impacts will aid the government in making meaningful predictions and planning for precaution measures for inevitable disasters.
References https://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/billions/ https://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/publication/FY1230 https://www.childfund.org/Content/NewsDetail/2147489272/