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Tsunami - Indonesia
Cyclone - Australia
Earthquake - Indonesia
Earthquake - Iran
Tropical storm - Philippines
Flood - United States
Flood - Czech Republic
Other events
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Catastrophe Report 9
February 24th – July 25th 2006 - Bill McGuire |
Tropical Cyclone Larry bearing down on Queensland on March 19th,
imaged by the MODIS instrument on the TERRA satellite. Courtesy: Jeff
Schmaltz, MODIS Rapid Response Team, NASA Goddard Space Flight Centre.
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In comparison to recent years, the first half of 2006 has been
relatively quiet with respect to major catastrophes. Over the
past five months, Indonesia has borne the brunt of natural disasters,
suffering a number of significant flood events, along with two
earthquakes close to the south coast of Java. Together, these
took close to 7,000 lives, during the first – in May –
as a result of building collapse due to severe ground shaking,
and in the second – in July - as a consequence of a tsunami.
Total losses are estimated at more than US$3 billion. Another
strong earthquake shook western Iran in March, taking just 66
lives, but causing massive damage, while further lethal but
small quakes struck Mozambique in February and Indonesia in
March. Apart from Tropical Storm Alberto, which made landfall
in Florida in early June, without causing substantial damage,
the Atlantic Hurricane Season has so far been quiet –
perhaps ominously so, given forecasts for another active season.
The worst windstorm of the period was undoubtedly Cyclone Larry,
which battered the Australian state of Queensland in March,
causing economic losses estimated at around US$1.1 billion,
with insured losses of around US$225 million. The less windy,
but unusually wet, Tropical Storm Bilis (also known as Typhoon
Florita), however, led to the largest storm losses for the period,
contributing to more than 600 deaths and leaving a repair bill,
in China, of close to US$2 billion, primarily due to floods.
A number of other major flood events also afflicted China, leading
to a further 310 deaths and losses totalling US$1 billion. Record
rainfall levels in June also led to massive flooding in the
north-eastern states of the US, notably Pennsylvania, New York,
New Jersey, Maryland, Delaware, Virginia and Washington DC,
leading to 16 deaths and economic losses around the US$1 billion
mark.
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| Many other countries were also affected by
serious flooding, most notably, Germany, Austria, the Czech
Republic, Hungary, Bulgaria, Romania, Serbia, Croatia, Montenegro,
Slovakia and Russia in Europe, Chile and Ecuador in South
America, Kenya and the Democratic Republic of Congo in Africa,
and Japan, Taiwan, Indonesia, the Philippines, India, Bangladesh,
Thailand and Iran in Asia. A number of technological disasters
occurred during the period, the most lethal involving an oil
pipeline explosion in Nigeria and terrorist train bombs in
Mumbai (India), each taking around 200 lives. Other notable
events included the capsizing of ferries off Bahrain and Djibouti,
a rail crash in Valencia (Spain), and a fire at an electronics
fair in India.
This report was first published in Catastrophe Risk Management
in August 2006.
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