Extreme weather and disaster wreak death and destruction in Asia

Extreme weather and disaster wreak death and destruction in Asia

Helen Rowe Agence France-Press/Dhaka

Natural disasters and extreme weather -- from quakes and floods to some of the worst typhoons in decades including the deadly tsunami on Sunday -- claimed over 19,000 lives and left a scores of billions of dollars trail of destruction across Asia in 2004.

The world's biggest earthquake, whose epicenter is located in Indonesia's northern Sumatran Island, in 40 years hit several Asian states on Sunday, unleashing a tsunami that crashed into Sri Lanka and India and swamped tourist isles in Thailand, Malaysia and the Maldives, killing more than 6,300 people in one day.

Incessant monsoon rains that lashed Bangladesh, northeast India and parts of Nepal in July and August killed at least 1,240 people.

The heaviest downpours in years set off landslides, washed away homes and livelihoods, and spelt financial ruin for thousands of South Asia's poorest people.

Large swathes of Bangladesh, which suffered the heaviest inundation since the worst-ever floods of 1998, were submerged for weeks. At least 700 people died and many were stranded, often with little or no fresh water or food.

The low-lying country, crisscrossed by a network of 230 rivers, is one of the world's most densely populated nations. Pressure on land leads thousands to eke out a fragile existence on flood plains.

Development has increased the impact of flooding as water runs off urban settlements more quickly than it runs off agricultural land, increasing the likelihood of flash flooding.

Experts predict that annual flooding, which already affects at least 20 percent of the country, will worsen over coming decades unless development becomes more "disaster sensitive".

"The consensus among aid agencies and other organizations is that these factors mean flooding will increase in severity," said Charlie Higgins, the World Food Program's Bangladesh adviser.

"The number of people dying is now a fraction of what it was in comparable floods from previous years but development is going to increase vulnerability because as you develop there is more damage," he said.

The World Bank estimated the cost to the impoverished nation at $2.2 billion this year.

"Farmers have had huge losses and siltation of much land means that many areas will be barren for around 10 years," said Dilruba Haider, assistant representative at the United Nations Development Fund.

Months after the floodwater subsided, aid agencies have described the increased hardship endured by millions already living on less than a dollar a day as a "quiet disaster".

An unusual high pressure system in the Pacific was the main reason for a record 10 typhoons that hit Japan and the heaviest rain in 29 years, the country's Meteorological Agency said.

About 216 people died and damage reached one trillion yen ($9.7 billion), government agencies said.

Tokyo is now racing to develop new measures to better warn senior citizens, who accounted for most of the victims, and to improve evacuation orders.

Many elderly were swept away in floods or buried alive in landslides. Of the 93 killed by Typhoon Tokage, which struck in October, 60 victims were over age 60. It was Japan's deadliest typhoon in a quarter-century.

Japan also suffered its most deadly earthquake in a decade in October.

Forty people died in an initial tremor of 6.8 on the Richter scale followed by hundreds of aftershocks.

China suffered too. Floods, typhoons and drought marked 2004. Large swathes of southern and eastern China are still in the grip of their worst drought in more than 50 years.

More than 1,000 people died in weather-related incidents but the toll was lower than the previous year's figure of 1,900 because of better emergency planning, officials said.

Total economic losses for the year were put at $10 billion.

In Taiwan, massive floods brought by storm Mindulle killed 29 and caused 4.07 billion Taiwan dollars ($126 million) in losses to agriculture and fisheries.

Sudden mudslides triggered by Typhoon Aere in August claimed 15 lives and $767 million in losses, prompting government officials and experts to restrict farming and land use in some conservation and landslide prone areas.

"Mudslides are natural phenomena and people should not fight against mother nature. It is also against economic values if we forcefully build houses and plant crops in mudslide routes," said Chen Cheng-yu of the Social and Water Conservation Bureau's disaster response division.

Powerful storms in the Philippines in early December spawned flash floods and landslides that swept away whole villages, leaving 1,600 dead or missing.

The United Nations is urging countries to follow Japan's lead in disaster management.

"Too much money is spent tackling the consequences of hazards instead of reducing people's vulnerability in the first place," said Salvano Briceno, director of the UN International Strategy for Disaster Reduction secretariat.

In January, officials from about 120 countries will gather in the Japanese city of Kobe -- wrecked by an earthquake in 1995 -- to thrash out life-saving strategies for the future.

Meteorologists say the outlook for Asia in 2005 is uncertain because of the unreliability of long-term forecasts.