Text by Christian Aid:

Almost half the world’s population has lived through a disaster at some point in the past decade. It’s enough to make you fear the future.

Storms, floods, famine, cyclones, drought, typhoons, earthquakes, mudslides, avalanches.  Each year for the past decade, an average of 258 million people have lived through some kind of disaster – in total, this is the equivalent of almost half of the world’s population.

According to the Red Cross, an average of 354 natural disasters occurred throughout the world each year from 1991 to 1999. Between 2000 and 2004, this figure more than doubled to an average of 728 natural disasters per year.

And each year, the death toll from disasters is growing greater – from 84,570 in 1995 to 249,896 ten years later, according to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).

(more…)