Disasters exact heavy damage, human toll in Asia
Arecent string of natural disasters, the latest a deadly earthquake and tsunami in Indonesia, have exacted a severe toll both in economic damage and human lives throughout Asia. A look at the costs for the region for just a handful of the worst calamities in the past several months:
Earthquake, tsunami — Sulawesi, Indonesia
The death toll from the earthquake and tsunami that hit the port city of Palu and other communities on Friday evening stood at 844 as of yesterday afternoon and is expected to grow.
Earthquake — Hokkaido, Japan
A magnitude 6.7 earthquake on Japan’s northernmost main island on September 6 killed 41 people, most of them buried in a massive landslide. Local media cited Hokkaido Governor Harumi Takahashi as estimating the cost to public infrastructure, farming and forestry at 150 billion yen (Dh4.7 billion or $1.3 billion).
Typhoon mangkhut — mostly Philippines, Hong Kong, China
Typhoon Mangkhut, one of several powerful tropical storms to sweep through Asia so far this typhoon season, hit in mid-September. In the Philippines, the storms triggered landslides and flooding that killed at least 68 people. Government estimates put the damage at more than 33.7 billion pesos (Dh2.2 billion), just in the Philippines — and many millions more in Hong Kong and China.
Earthquake — Lombok, Indonesia
The earthquakes that struck Lombok in eastern Indonesia in August, the biggest with a magnitude of 6.9, did not generate a tsunami but nonetheless caused widespread damage on the island and on nearby Bali, killing more than 500 people. Damages are estimated at more than $500 million.
Dam collapse — Laos and Cambodia
The July 24 collapse of a dam in eastern Laos, along a tributary of the Mekong, killed at least 27 people and left more than 130 missing as flash floods wrecked roads and villages downstream as far as Cambodia and Vietnam. The government has not released damage estimates.
Severe storms — Japan
Landslides and flooding in western Japan killed 229 people in early July and inflicted damage exceeding $2 billion. Those storms were followed in early September by Typhoon Jebi, the strongest storm to pound Japan in 25 years. It killed at least seven people.