Extreme weather, disaster wreak destruction in Asia

Extreme weather, disaster wreak 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 -- claimed 4,000 lives
and left a US$22 billion trail of destruction across Asia in
2004.

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.