Natural Disasters

10.2001 Gujarat earthquake (Death toll: 19,727):The 2001 Gujarat earthquake of a magnitude of between 7.6 and 7.7 occurred at almost an early morning of January 26, 2011 at 8:46 AM local time and lasted for over two minutes. Almost around 19,727 people were killed and 167,000 were injured. The destruction to homes and property was huge with around 400,000 homes completely turned into rubble. Manyhistoric sites and tourist spots were also destroyed. The total property damage was estimated to be around $5.5 billion. Around 600,000 people became homeless in 21 districts which were affected due to the shock waves that spread for about 700 km. The earthquake happened to have struck on the 51st Republic Day of India.
9. 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami (Death toll: 18,400): The recent 2011Tohoku earthquake in Japan which literally means “Northeast region Pacific Ocean offshore earthquake” measured around 9.0 magnitude and struck the coast of Japan at around 14:46 local time on March 11, 2011, Friday. The epicenter is said to be about 72 km (41 miles) east of the Oshika Peninsula of Tohoku. The tsunami waves as high as 23.6 m (77 ft) were triggered which touched Japan within minutesof the earthquake. Tsunami warnings were issued for Japan and some 20 other countries along the Pacific coast of North and South America. In some countries, the smaller shockwaves reached several hours later. So far around 18,400 deaths have been confirmed with 2,778 injured and around 17,339 people missing as reported by the Japanese National Police Agency. There were tremendous property damagesto roads, railways and a dam which collapsed, besides three nuclear reactors had explosions due to hydrogen building up within the outer containment buildings. It is estimated to be the worst earthquake in the history of Japan and the fifth worst according to modern records kept since 1900. The earth itself shifted from its axis by about 10 cm (3.9 in). The losses are approximated at around $14.5to 34.6 billion, but according to the World Bank, the estimates of the damages are placed around $122 billion and $235 billion. The Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan declared the disaster to be the worst since the end of the World War Two, with the Japanese government estimating the cost to reach about $309 billion. This makes it the world’s most expensive natural disaster on record.
8. 2003European heat wave (Death toll: 40,000): The 2003 European heat wave was one of the hottest summers in Europe, especially in France in recorded history. There were a serious health crises and droughts in many European countries with a death toll reaching almost 40,000. In France almost 14,802 deaths happened because of this heat wave according to the French National Institute of Health. Extensiveforest fires occurred in Portugal with almost five per cent of the countryside and ten per cent of the forests being destroyed due to temperatures reaching 48 degrees Celsius (118 degrees Fahrenheit). In Netherlands, there were about 1,500 heat related deaths with temperature reaching 37.8 degrees Celsius there. A couple of hundreds deaths were reported both in Spain and Germany, where temperaturesreached 45.1 and 41 degrees Celsius respectively. In Switzerland, many glaciers were melted in the Alps causing avalanches and flash floods with a new national record of temperature at 41.5 degrees Celsius (106.7 degrees Fahrenheit) recorded in Grono, Graubunden. The United Kingdom’s highest recorded temperature was on 10 August, 2003 with 38.5 degrees Celsius (101.3 degrees Fahrenheit) in Kent andScotland broke its record of the highest temperature in Greycrook at 32.9 degrees Celsius (91.2 degrees Fahrenheit). Thousands of people died all across the UK as reported by the BBC. There occurred a crop shortfall in Southern Europe due to long droughts with European Union’s total production reduced by 10 per cent. But the heat wave won nine gold and silver medals for Hungarian winemakers in...