Abstract
The unpredictable nature of earthquakes and the vast impact they can have makes them one of the most lethal kinds of natural disaster. Earthquakes have claimed an average of 27,000 lives a year since 1990, according to the data on reported deaths compiled by the EM-DAT International Disaster Database, which is maintained by the Centre for Research on the Epidemiology of Disasters (CRED) at the Catholic University in Louvain, Belgium. The consequences of earthquake disasters vary around the globe, depending on the region and its economic development. Data shows that the number of earthquakes causing significant human and economic loss has increased since the 1970s, endorsing research into individual risk patterns which can provide important information for community-based preparedness programmes. Epidemiological analysis of earthquake impact data can be useful for evaluating impact patterns over space and time. However, the lack of standard definitions of exposure to risk of death or injury from earthquakes is an ongoing methodological obstacle and contributes to inaccuracies in calculations of rates and ratios for comparison purposes. Standardised definitions of deaths and injuries from disasters would improve understanding of earthquake-related risks.
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Notes
- 1.
http://earthquake.usgs.gov/learn/faq/?faqID=69, accessed on 1 December 2009.
- 2.
See also: www.emdat.be
- 3.
See also: www.cred.be
- 4.
This includes U.N. bodies (Food and Agriculture Organisation – FAO, Integrated Regional Information Networks – IRIN, Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs – OCHA, U.N. Environment Programme – UNEP, World Food Programme – WFP, WHO, World Meteorological Organisation – WMO, Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean – ECLAC), U.S. governmental bodies (Centers for Disease Control – CDC, Federal Emergency Management Agency – FEMA, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration – NOAA, OFDA, Smithsonian Institution), official agencies (Asian Disaster Risk Reduction Center – ADRC, Caribbean Disaster Emergency Response Agency – CDERA, national governments), NGOs and humanitarian organisations (International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies – IFRC), reinsurance companies and magazines (Lloyd’s Casualty Week, MünichRe, SwissRe), inter-governmental organisations (World Bank), press agencies (AFP, Reuters), and other specialist sources (Dartmouth Flood Observatory – DFO, U.S. Geological Survey – USGS). This is not an exhaustive list.
- 5.
- 6.
See also: www.swissre.com
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Acknowledgments
The authors would like to thank Olivier Degomme and José Rodriguez-Llanes (CRED) for their contribution to data analysis, and Laura Irvine (CRED) for her contribution to proofreading of the text.
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Guha-Sapir, D., Vos, F. (2011). Earthquakes, an Epidemiological Perspective on Patterns and Trends. In: Spence, R., So, E., Scawthorn, C. (eds) Human Casualties in Earthquakes. Advances in Natural and Technological Hazards Research, vol 29. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-90-481-9455-1_2
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