Natural Disasters Of Note In Just The Last Decade

- Approximately 30,000 people are believed to have died across Western Europe, particularly in France, due to a prolonged heat wave during the summer of 2003. Shortages of medical and nursing staff are believed to have contributed to the disaster.

- An earthquake in Bam, Iran on December 27, 2003 killed more than 26,000.

- On December 26, 2004, a 9.3 undersea subduction earthquake in the Indian Ocean off the coast of Sumatra created a large tsunami, which impacted the entire Indian Ocean rim with heights of over 30 feet (10 meters) and killed at least 230,000 people in 14 countries.


- Over 3,000 people are killed by Hurricane Jeanne in Haiti in September 2004.

- Hurricane Katrina killed at least 1,836 people after making landfall near New Orleans, United States on August 29, 2005. The city, insufficiently protected by its levee system, was left underwater for weeks. It was the costliest disaster in U.S. history, causing over $81 billion (2005 U.S.D.) in direct damage.

- An earthquake in Kashmir on October 8, 2005, killed at least 74,500 in India and Pakistan

- Cyclone Nargis made landfall in Myanmar on April 27, 2008 and moved across the country's heavily populated lowlands, leaving approximately 134,000 people dead or missing and 2.5 million people homeless.

- An earthquake in Sichuan, China killed 69,227 people, left 374,643 injured and 17,923 missing on May 12, 2008. This was the 19th deadliest earthquake of all time.

- A 6.3 magnitude earthquake strikes near L'Aquila (Italy) on April 6, 2009, killing at least 308 and injuring more than 1,500

- A worldwide outbreak of Influenza A virus subtype H1N1, affecting Mexico, the United States, Canada, New Zealand, United Kingdom, Spain, Israel and Australia from April to June, 2009. As of October 6, 2009 the worldwide death toll passed 5,000.

- On January 14, 2010 a 7.0 magnitued earthquake rips through Haiti, leveling it's capital city of Port-au-Prince. Death tolls and costs are unavailable at this time, but estimates range from as little as 30,000 to as high as 500,000 dead.

* The cost in human lives of these natural disasters is dwarfed by the death toll of the many wars fought throughout the globe, just since the year 2000, which is counted in the millions.