10 of the deadliest natural disasters of 2017

Deadly Disasters

Climate and weather disasters have hit nearly every continent in 2017: flooding and monsoons in South Asia, hurricanes and a major earthquake in North America, landslides and drought in Africa and a tsunami threat to Central America.

These disasters “vividly demonstrate that we need to redouble our efforts to reduce the impact of such events in the future,” Robert Glasser, a United Nations disaster risk official, said in a statement Sept. 8.

“If we do not succeed in understanding what it takes to make our societies more resilient to disasters, then we will pay an increasingly high price in terms of lost lives and livelihoods.”

These 10 disasters are among the most severe this year as of data available Sept. 15, 2017.

10. Mexico Deaths: 96+ The country’s biggest earthquake in a century rocked Mexico this month, killing at least 96 and leaving 2.5 million in need of aid. Mexico rescinded its pledge for Hurricane Harvey relief in the wake of the 8.2 magnitude quake, which destroyed or damaged tens of thousands of homes. A handful of salvaged items sit in front of what remains of a home destroyed by Thursday’s magnitude 8.1 earthquake, in Asuncion Ixtaltepec, Oaxaca state, Mexico, Sunday, Sept. 10, 2017. Officials in Oaxaca and Chiapas states said thousands of houses and hundreds of schools had been damaged or destroyed.
(AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)

AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell

9. Zimbabwe Deaths: 117 Severe rains and a downgraded cyclone killed 117 and left thousands homeless in Zimbabwe in the first few months of 2017, the New Zealand Herald reported. Since the start of the rainy season in October 2016, at least 246 people have been killed. Former Zimbabwean Deputy Prime Minister Thokozani Khupe crosses a flooded road on her way to assess damages caused by floods in Tsholostho about 200 kilometres north of Bulawayo, Saturday, March 4, 2017. Zimbabwe says floods have killed over 200 people and left close to 2,000 homeless since December. The Southern African country has appealed to International donors for $100 million to help those affected by floods. (AP Photo/ Tsvangirayi Mukwazhi)

AP Photo/ Tsvangirayi Mukwazhi

8. China Deaths: 144+ China was hit by severe floods between January and July, killing at least 144 people — 56 alone over several days in early July. Other natural disasters killed an additional 70 people in the first half of 2017, according to China’s Ministry of Civil Affairs and the National Commission for Disaster Reduction. In all, disasters have displaced about 1 million people and destroyed 31,000 homes. A man paddles a kayak along a flooded street caused by Typhoon Hato in Guangzhou in southern China’s Guangdong province Wednesday Aug. 23, 2017. Thousands of people were evacuated from parts of the mainland coast ahead of the storm’s arrival, China’s official Xinhua News Agency reported. (Chinatopix Via AP)

Chinatopix Via AP

7. Peru Deaths: 150+ Flooding in Peru in the first few months of 2017 triggered by unusually warm Pacific waters off the coast killed at least 150 people and affected more than than 1 million. Reconstruction efforts could cost more than $9 billion, Reuters reported in July. A group of people, stranded in flood waters, hold onto a rope as they walk to safety in Lima, Peru, Friday, March 17, 2017. Intense rains and mudslides over the past three days have wrought havoc around the Andean nation and caught residents in Lima, a desert city of 10 million where it almost never rains, by surprise. (AP Photo/Martin Mejia)

AP Photo/Martin Mejia

6. Afghanistan Deaths: 156 Avalanches caused by heavy snowfall killed 156 people in Afghanistan and Pakistan, CNN reported. The majority of the damage was in Afghanistan, where most of the victims were women and children and 300 homes were destroyed. (Thinkstock)

Thinkstock

Incumbent Congo President Joseph Kabila holds the Congolese flag as he takes the oath of office as he is sworn in for another term, in Kinshasa, Congo Tuesday, Dec. 20, 2011. The president of sub-Saharan Africa's largest nation pledged to unify the country after an election that was criticized by international observers. The country's top opposition candidate, meanwhile, planned his own inauguration in a move that could spark political chaos. (AP Photo/John Bompengo) — **5. Democratic Republic of the Congo** **Deaths: 174** An August landslide killed 174 people in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. There were 57 survivors and 280 children orphaned. Top priorities are the “assistance to affected people and the relocation of villages in areas currently at risk,” according to the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Incumbent Congo President Joseph Kabila holds the Congolese flag. (AP Photo/John Bompengo)

4. Sri Lanka Deaths: 213 Over two days at the end of May, heavy rainfall and strong monsoon winds caused flooding and landslides that killed 213 people and affected about 415,600 others, about 30 percent of them children. More than 250 people in Sri Lanka have died from dengue fever since the disaster, and the humanitarian aid needs of the country remain significant, particularly in terms of access to safe, clean drinking water and the safety of temporary shelters. A shipping container is moved to be used as a shelter for flood affected people in Colombo, Sri Lanka, Sunday, May 22, 2016. Sri Lanka’s soldiers continued searching for scores of people missing since deadly landslides struck hill country several days ago leaving dozens dead. (AP Photo/Eranga Jayawardena)

AP Photo/Eranga Jayawardena

3. Colombia Deaths: 300+ A massive landslide in the southern city of Mocoa killed at least 300 people (originally thought to be 254, but the death toll was later raised) and injured about 200 others in early April. Just two weeks later, another 17 people were killed and two dozen injured in another landslide set off by heavy rains, CBS reported. Both disasters hit some of Colombia’s poorer cities and caught residents by surprise after heavy rainfall. View of a landslide that destroyed several houses in Manizales, Colombia, Wednesday, April 19, 2017. At least seven people are dead after intense rains provoked several landslides in a mountainous, coffee-growing part of Colombia. (AP Photo/Maria Luisa Garcia)

AP Photo/Maria Luisa Garcia

2. Sierra Leone Deaths: 600+ Heavy rainfall and flooding sparked a huge mudslide in Sierra Leone in August, killing at least 600 and directly affecting more than 6,000, according to the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. More than 85 percent of affected people have been reached with food and other disaster relief items, the U.N. reported. FILE – In this Tuesday, Aug. 15, 2017 file photo, volunteers stand at the scene of heavy flooding and mudslides in Regent, just outside of Sierra Leone’s capital Freetown. Churches across Sierra Leone held special services Sunday, Aug. 20 in memory of the more than 450 people who were killed in mudslides and flooding earlier this week. (AP Photo/Kabba Kargbo, file)

AP Photo/Kabba Kargbo, file

1. South Asia Deaths: 1,200+ Flooding and landslides resulting from monsoon rains have affected at least 41 million people in Bangladesh, India and Nepal this summer, The New York Times reported. About 600 of the deaths were in India, where nearly 2,000 relief camps have been set up, according to the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. FILE – In this Tuesday, Aug. 29, 2017 file photo, schoolchildren wade past a waterlogged railway street in the rain in Mumbai, India. Two massive, rain-soaked cities on opposite sides of the world are struggling with swirling, brackish waters that have brought death and devastation. For Houston, it’s unprecedented. For Mumbai, it’s painfully common. India’s financial capital was especially hard hit, with water swamping offices, schools and roads and about 60 people killed, 33 alone in Thursday’s collapse of a 117-year-old apartment building whose foundation had been weakened by the flooding. (AP Photo/Rajanish Kakade, File)

AP Photo/Rajanish Kakade, File

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