Disasters killed 141 Aussies in 2014

Disasters killed 141 Aussies in 2014

Disasters such as the Malaysia Airlines plane crashes killed 141 Australian last year, a new report shows.

The World Disasters Report is produced annually by the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies.

It found crises such as the Ebola outbreak in West Africa and the sinking of the Sewol ferry in South Korea contributed to 8186 deaths in 2014.

Most of those lives were lost in the Asia-Pacific region, which continues to be the world’s most disaster-affected area.

China suffered the highest toll, with 1902 people killed, while India lost more than 1400 citizens to landslides and floods.

A total of 107 million people were affected by some 317 natural disasters, the report states.

But in some good news, this year’s report recorded the lowest number of people killed in disasters since 1986.

Unfortunately, that trend is unlikely to continue, with the toll from Nepal’s earthquake of 2015 already eclipsing the total number of deaths from natural disasters in 2014.

Climate-related disasters – which accounted for almost 90 per cent of 2014 disasters – are also expected to keep posing a challenge for worldwide aid organisations.

Email the Travel Weekly team at traveldesk@travelweekly.com.au

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