ABSTRACT
In the 30 years between 1974 and 2003, more than 2 million people were killed in over 6,350 ‘natural’ disasters worldwide (Guha-Sapir et al., 2004). In addition, 5.1 billion individuals were directly affected by these events, including 182 million people left homeless; economic costs were esti - mated at US$1.4 trillion. These are significant losses, but all disaster data should be interpreted with care. The records are difficult to assemble. Disaster impacts, trends and patterns are complex and often controversial. This is especially so when policy-related questions are raised about apparent increases in the frequency and/or magnitude of extreme geophysical events and the adverse societal consequences.
