Disaster Toll Tripled in ‘03

CNN News, October 29

“Natural disasters killed 76,806 people in 2003, three times the number of victims in 2002, a rise due in part to extremes in the global climate.” The earthquake in Iran that killed 31,000 and the heat wave in Europe that killed 35,000 were the biggest contributors to the figures. “In all, a quarter of a billion people were affected by drought, floods and earthquakes, which caused at least $56 billion in damage in 2003, twice the cost of the previous year ….”