Yesterday I reported that there were no major storms in the Atlantic and Pacific. We have a tendency to forget the rest of the world in these sweeping statements.
It turns out that Typhoon Fung Wong (also known as Igme) strengthened to a Category 2 storm at 100 MPH and hit Taiwan on Sunday (our time). There were several deaths. Last month, Typhoon Fengshen (also known as Frank) battered the Philippines and caused several hundred deaths, with many hundred more missing (mainly from a capsized ferry). Then, of course, there was Cyclone Nargis, which reached a Category 4 storm of 132 MPH, devastating Myanmar on May 3. Deaths were initially feared to exceed 100,000, but it now appears that the toll is 22,000, with 41,000 missing.
In comparison, Katrina in 2005 killed “only” 1800 as a Category 3 hurricane. The most deadly hurricane in the U.S. hit Galveston as a Category 4 in 1900, leaving a death toll of 8,000. The second worst, another Category 4, struck Lake Okeechobee, Florida in 1928, killing 2,500. Katrina was the third worse in terms of casualties. The so-called Miami Hurricane of 1926 caused the most damage: $157 billion. Galveston is #2 at $99.4 billion and New Orleans (Katrina) #3 $81 billion.
In 1970, the Great Bhola Cyclone killed at least 300,000, and maybe up to a million in the Ganges Delta region of Bangladesh. Over the past century or so there have been at least ten cyclones/typhoons which killed at least 100,000 in Asia, mostly Bangladesh, but also India, China and Viet Nam. Needless to say, no American hurricane made the world top ten.
While we’re at this, the USA is also not close to making the world worst list in 20th century Natural Disasters, where #1 was a China flood in 1931, killing 3.7 million, a more recent one in 1959 killing 2 million, and many more, all in China, with death tolls greater than half a million. The 1976 Tangshan earthquake, also in China, could have killed 655,000. There was a 1556 Shaanzi (yes, China) earthquake, which claimed the lives of 830,000.
The United States (and, more specifically, from poultry and swine in Fort Riley, Kansas) was sort of responsible for the Great Influenza, the 1918-1920 Spanish Flu, because it started in our country and spread around the world. Anywhere from 20 million to 100 million died. In the early 30’s, famine killed 5 million in the Soviet Union. Droughts, epidemics and floods do most of the damage. Annual world-wide traffic deaths are around 1.2 million.
Those are partially man-made, but a true society inspired disaster of great magnitude is war. Forty million dead in the Chinese Three Kingdom Wars (184-280 AD), 36 million in the An Shi Rebellion (756-63) and 60 million in the Mongol Conquest of Asia/Europe (1207-79). World War I had a toll of 66 million (but many of these could have been related to the Spanish Flu) and World War II killed 72 million. The Iraq war has seen slightly more than 4,000 American deaths, but perhaps up to a million of everyone else.
Well, this has been a wild journey from hurricanes, but we do tend to exaggerate our own problems when the worst is occurring around the world. Read the Appendix of SIMPLE SOLUTIONS for Planet Earth (http://SimpleSolutionsBook1.com) and Chapter 1 of SIMPLE SOLUTIONS for Humanity (http://SimpleSolutionsBook2.com) for details.
It turns out that Typhoon Fung Wong (also known as Igme) strengthened to a Category 2 storm at 100 MPH and hit Taiwan on Sunday (our time). There were several deaths. Last month, Typhoon Fengshen (also known as Frank) battered the Philippines and caused several hundred deaths, with many hundred more missing (mainly from a capsized ferry). Then, of course, there was Cyclone Nargis, which reached a Category 4 storm of 132 MPH, devastating Myanmar on May 3. Deaths were initially feared to exceed 100,000, but it now appears that the toll is 22,000, with 41,000 missing.
In comparison, Katrina in 2005 killed “only” 1800 as a Category 3 hurricane. The most deadly hurricane in the U.S. hit Galveston as a Category 4 in 1900, leaving a death toll of 8,000. The second worst, another Category 4, struck Lake Okeechobee, Florida in 1928, killing 2,500. Katrina was the third worse in terms of casualties. The so-called Miami Hurricane of 1926 caused the most damage: $157 billion. Galveston is #2 at $99.4 billion and New Orleans (Katrina) #3 $81 billion.
In 1970, the Great Bhola Cyclone killed at least 300,000, and maybe up to a million in the Ganges Delta region of Bangladesh. Over the past century or so there have been at least ten cyclones/typhoons which killed at least 100,000 in Asia, mostly Bangladesh, but also India, China and Viet Nam. Needless to say, no American hurricane made the world top ten.
While we’re at this, the USA is also not close to making the world worst list in 20th century Natural Disasters, where #1 was a China flood in 1931, killing 3.7 million, a more recent one in 1959 killing 2 million, and many more, all in China, with death tolls greater than half a million. The 1976 Tangshan earthquake, also in China, could have killed 655,000. There was a 1556 Shaanzi (yes, China) earthquake, which claimed the lives of 830,000.
The United States (and, more specifically, from poultry and swine in Fort Riley, Kansas) was sort of responsible for the Great Influenza, the 1918-1920 Spanish Flu, because it started in our country and spread around the world. Anywhere from 20 million to 100 million died. In the early 30’s, famine killed 5 million in the Soviet Union. Droughts, epidemics and floods do most of the damage. Annual world-wide traffic deaths are around 1.2 million.
Those are partially man-made, but a true society inspired disaster of great magnitude is war. Forty million dead in the Chinese Three Kingdom Wars (184-280 AD), 36 million in the An Shi Rebellion (756-63) and 60 million in the Mongol Conquest of Asia/Europe (1207-79). World War I had a toll of 66 million (but many of these could have been related to the Spanish Flu) and World War II killed 72 million. The Iraq war has seen slightly more than 4,000 American deaths, but perhaps up to a million of everyone else.
Well, this has been a wild journey from hurricanes, but we do tend to exaggerate our own problems when the worst is occurring around the world. Read the Appendix of SIMPLE SOLUTIONS for Planet Earth (http://SimpleSolutionsBook1.com) and Chapter 1 of SIMPLE SOLUTIONS for Humanity (http://SimpleSolutionsBook2.com) for details.
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Oil upticked to $125.36/barrel, and, of course, the Dow Jones Industrials dropped, 240 to 11,131.
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Fausto was a Category 2 hurricane on July 20, but degraded into a trough, and, is today bringing a few drops of rain to Hawaii. Genevieve was a hurricane on July 25, but is now a remnant, still heading for Hawaii.
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