BY THE NUMBERS...
An average year sees:
- 12 million earthquakes;
- 100,000 thunderstorms;
- 10,000 floods;
- Hundreds of landslides and tornadoes; and
- Dozens of hurricanes, wildfires, volcanic eruptions, droughts and tsunamis.
In the last ten years:
- An estimated 600,000 people around the world have been killed by natural disasters (half of these in 2004 and 2005 alone);
- The reported economic cost of natural disasters around the world was well over $600 billion. Some estimates for post-Katrina reconstruction are over $200 billion.