Saturday, February 26, 2011

That Was The Year That Was

 


# 5341

 

 

An interesting map has been produced by the Munich RE Group – a major international Insurance and Re-Insurance company – showing 960 natural disasters occurring around the globe in 2010.

 

The two page PDF file includes both the map, and a listing of the top 50 natural disasters, and is available on the Relief Web Site.

 

First the link, then I’ll return with a little discussion.

 

 

World Map of Natural Catastrophes 2010

Map of 'World%20Map%20of%20Natural%20Catastrophes%202010'

  • Date: 24 Feb 2011
  • Type: Natural Disaster
  • Keyword(s): Natural Disaster; Reference
  • Format:

    PDF *, 1847 Kb

  • Source(s):
    - Munich Re Group

 

 

While the format of this blog isn’t well suited for such detailed graphics (download the file for a closer look), the snapshot below gives you some idea of the scope of disasters around the world.

 

image

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As one might expect, areas of highest population density (United States, Europe, Southeast Asia) saw the greatest number of events. As the map blow-up below illustrates, you don’t have to live in a developing country to be impacted by a natural disaster.

 

 image

 

In 2010 FEMA handled a record number (81) federally declared disasters across the United States.

 

Good enough reason to follow the advice of Ready.gov, FEMA, the American Red Cross, and others and make preparations now to be ready should a disaster – or personal emergency – impact you or your family.

 

Some resources to get you started on the road to `all threats’ preparedness include:

 

FEMA http://www.fema.gov/index.shtm

READY.GOV http://www.ready.gov/

AMERICAN RED CROSS http://www.redcross.org/

 

And a few of my (many) preparedness essays include:

An Appropriate Level Of Preparedness
Inside My Bug Out Bag
Red Cross Unveils `Do More Than Cross Your Fingers’ Campaign
The Gift Of Preparedness

 

You can search this blog for more preparedness information by clicking this link.