Did you know that from 1980-2005, nearly 7, 500 natural disasters worldwide took the lives of over 2 million people, 72.5 per cent of which were caused by weather, climate or water-related hazards such as droughts, floods, windstorms, tropical cyclones, storm surges, extreme temperatures, land slides and wild fires, or by health epidemics and insect infestations directly linked to meteorological and hydrological conditions?



In 2008, 321 natural disasters killed 235, 816 people ? a death toll that was almost four times higher than the average annual total for the seven previous years, partly due to Cyclone Nargis which left, according to United Nations International Strategy for Disaster Reduction (UNISDR), 138, 366 people dead or missing in Myanmar.

Over the past 50 years, 90 per cent of natural disasters have been of hydrometeorological (rain-related) origin.

In the period 1956-2005, the number of disasters and related economic losses from weather-, water- and climate-related hazards has increased nearly 10- and 50-fold respectively. However, the reported loss of life has decreased from 2.66 million (over the decade 1956-1965) to 0.22 million (over the decade 1996-2005), due particularly to increasingly accurate early warnings.

Every year, disasters related to meteorological, hydrological and climate hazards cause significant losses of life. Although natural hazards cannot be prevented, early warning of the impending events can significantly reduce the death and destruction associated with them.

Heat Waves

A heat wave is a period of unusually hot weather that lasts from a few days to a few weeks. During heat waves, there is not much wind around to cool down the Sun's heat. This means that most of the heat gets trapped close to the ground and the lower air levels. As the temperature rises, people, animals and plants suffer from heat stress. Heat waves cause stress on the body when there is too much heat being absorbed and not enough heat being lost though the body's normal cooling processes. When a person is not able to cool down, their body temperature gets higher, they breathe quicker and their pulse increases.

As the body gets hotter and hotter, water is lost from their blood and it gets thicker. This can cause heat stroke and people can suffer serious or even fatal consequences. Heat waves could affect the health status of millions of people in some parts of the world, particularly those with low adaptive capacity. They can lead to increased death rates from heart and respiratory diseases. A few years ago in 2003, a deadly heat wave swept across Europe leaving more than 70 000 deaths in its wake. Human diseases, injury and death caused by heat waves can be reduced when early warning from concerned authorities reach communities in a timely and easy to understand manner.

Sand and Dust Storms:

Dust and Sand Storms pose a myriad of health problems to local populations and ecosystems. They can disable the respiratory system, reduce visibility and damage crops. Some studies have suggested that acute respiratory infections among children, to which sand and dust storms contribute, are one of the major causes of mortality in developing countries. So if forecasts of dust and sand plumes are in your direction you need to protect yourself.

Wildfires

Wildfires or bushfires are fires that burn uncontrollably and that are not managed. A bushfire can burn quickly and can be very devastating if they are not detected and extinguished. In the drier seasons, the dangers of bushfire are very high and are usually caused by lightening or by humans. A bushfire can destroy homes and buildings, devastate crops, and threaten the lives of humans and animals. Wild fires can lead to smog-related health problems. Conditions of drought or heat stress can predispose an area to wild fires.

According to the World Meteorological Organization, WMO, the number of disasters due to weather, climate or water extreme events has increased 50-fold over the past half century. Natural hazards like floods, droughts, heat waves, wildfires, and sand and dust storms not only affect people's safety and health directly, they also can deny them access to life-sustaining food and water.

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) in its Fourth Assessment Report states that weather and climate extremes are very likely to increase with the changing climate.

Nothing can withstand the awesome power of nature. Most times the Atmosphere's reaction against man is a backlash of man's action against it. When the atmosphere reacts violently, know how to defend your life by knowing why it acts the way it does. There's always something new, topical, sizzling hot, refreshing, exhaustive and very authoritative about the weather and the atmosphere at cheap-bargain-mall.com/globalweather.html that you will need when the weather threatens to snuff life out of you as it has done to many.