The era of super disasters in Asia

The Asia-Pacific region is about to face a period when large-scale natural disasters can take millions of lives at a glance. Indonesia, the Philippines and China are the most vulnerable countries.

The deserted scene of Sumatra island of Indonesia after the tsunami disaster in 2004. Photo: AP.

An Australian scientific report confirms the impact of natural disasters such as earthquakes and tsunamis in the coming years may be multiplied by population growth and climate change. Based on disaster data over the past 400 years, scientists have analyzed the risk of earthquakes, tornadoes, tsunamis, volcanoes in the Asia-Pacific region and calculated the number of people who might be injured. death.

They found that cities located on the Himalayan belt, China, Indonesia and the Philippines will have to witness earthquakes that can take the lives of a million people in a short time. In addition, Indonesia and the Philippines also face volcanic hazards. Low-lying countries like Bangladesh can be devastated by tsunamis, floods and tornadoes.

"Natural disasters that rob people of 10,000 people or more tend to occur more often after every decade," the team said. In the coming years, they can impact the lives of more than a million people. Population growth, climate change and food scarcity may increase the devastating level of natural disasters.

"The probability of natural disasters such as earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, tsunamis, and flash floods has not changed much, but because the population of Asia increases rapidly, every earthquake can affect tens of thousands, even Assuming a volcano in Alaska's state regularly erupts lava in a 100-year cycle, its impact on humans is not great because no one lives around the volcanic area. Alaska, but if the volcano appeared on the Indonesian island of Java, its impact was extremely terrible, " explained Alanna Simpson, a scientist who participated in the study.