A system for evaluating disasters of all types on the basis of deaths, property damage, and area affected.
Impact 1: Disasters that involve 10 or more dead and/or US$10 million or more in property damage, usually in a local area.
Impact 2: Disasters that involve 100 or more dead and/or $100 million or more in property damage, usually within a state or province.
Impact 3: Disasters that involve 1,000 or more dead and/or $1 billion or more in property damage, usually within one nation.
Impact 4: Disasters that involve 10,000 or more dead and/or $10 billion or more in property damage, usually within one continent.
Impact 5: Disasters that involve 100,000 or more dead and/or $100 billion or more in property damage, usually within a multi-continent global region.
Impact 6: Disasters that involve 1 million or more dead and/or $1 trillion or more in property damage, affecting the entire world.
To show the merit of this new scale we have applied it to a cross-section of disasters to obtain these examples:
IMPACT 1 DISASTERS:
1980 – Mount St. Helens Eruption
NOAA News Photo
1998 tornado, Birmingham, Ala.; 34 dead.
1991 volcanic eruption of Mount Pinatubo, Mexico.
1990 tornado, Plainfield, Ill.; 29 dead.
1980 volcanic eruption, Mount St. Helens, Wash.
1968 tornado, Jonesboro. Ark.; 35 dead.
IMPACT 2 DISASTERS:
2002 flood, Prague, Czech Republic.
2001 flood, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; 50 dead.
1995 heat wave in Chicago area; 700 dead.
1981 train wreck Bihar, India; 900 dead.
1977 collision of two Boeing 747s on runway at Tenerife, Canary Islands; 583 dead.
1947 fire and explosion on ship at dock, Texas City, Texas; 500 dead.
1925 tornado, 200-mile (322-km.) track across Missouri, Illinois, Indiana; 695 dead.
1912 sinking of the Titanic in North Atlantic; 1,503 dead.
IMPACT 3 DISASTERS:
2005 Hurricane Dennis hit Cienfuegos, Cuba with 150-mph winds, then moved into the Gulf. Its next landfall was near Pensacola. Damage: $2 billion.
2004 Hurricane Jeanne first hit Puerto Rico and Hispanola, leaving 1,500 dead in Haiti. Then it hit Florida near Stuart before turning north. Damage: $7 billion.
2001 New York World Trade Center attack; 2,752 dead.
2001 floods and mudslides along north coast of Venezuela; 1,000 dead.
1998 Hurricane Georges hit Leeward Islands, the Florida Keys and Mississippi; 600 dead; damage: $6 billion.
1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill in Alaska; $3 billion damage.
1987 ferry Dona Paz collision with tanker, Philippines; 1,500 dead.
1986 Chernobyl Russia nuclear plant accident; 8.000 dead.
1986 NASA Challenger accident at Cape Canaveral; 7 dead, $1 billion damage.
1985 freeze in Central and Northern Florida; $1 billion damage to citrus crops.
1980 earthquake, 7.2 on Richter scale, Southern Italy; 4,000 dead.
1953 storm brought seas over dikes in Netherlands; 1,800 dead.
1950 blizzard "Storm of the Century" hit Eastern U.S; 383 dead.
1900 hurricane hit Galveston; 8,000 dead.
1811 earthquake, estimated at 8.0 on Richter scale, hit New Madrid, Mo., area; largest ever.
1994 – Earthquake – California
FEMA News Photo
recorded in mainland USA; changed course of Mississippi River, formed new lakes.
IMPACT 4 DISASTERS:
2004 Hurricane Charley hit Port Charlotte area and moved across Florida; $14 billion damage.
2004 Hurricane Ivan hit Florida and moved up east coast; $14 billion damage.
2003 Europe heat wave; 35,000 dead.
1993 "Great Flood" covered 400,000 square miles (1.036 million sq. km.) in nine states. Over 1,000 levees were topped or failed from St. Paul down to Rock Island, St. Louis, Kansas City, and Omaha; 50 dead.
1992 Hurricane Andrew hit below Miami and crossed Florida; $30 billion damage.
1984 world's worst industrial accident, Bhopal, India; 15,000 dead.
1970 earthquake, 7.8 on Richter scale, North Peru; 66,000 dead
1939 earthquake, 8.3 on Richter scale, Chillan, Chile; 28,000 dead.
1902 volcanic eruption, Mount Pelee, Martinique; 29,000 dead.
1883 Volcanic eruption of Krakatoa in Indonesia caused a tsunami that drowned 36,000 in western Java and southern Sumatra. Ash cloud spread across North America, blocking sun and ruining crops.
IMPACT 5 DISASTERS:
2005 Hurricane Katrina hit the Louisiana/Mississippi coast; flood topped levees in New Orleans; more than 1,000 dead; $200 billion damage.
2005 earthquake, 7.6 on Richter scale, Pakistan, Kashmir,
2000 – Forest Fire – Los Alamos, N.M.
Photo: Andrea Booher/FEMA News Photo
India and Afghanistan; 70,000 dead.
2005 Hurricane Wilma hit Cozumel, Mexico then moved over Cuba, producing 45 ft. (13.7 m.) waves at Havana; next went ashore in Florida near Naples before crossing the state. $120 billion damage.
2004 tsunami originating in Indonesia killed 200,000 — including 31,000 in Sri Lanka; 10,700 in India; 5,400 in Thailand; 68 in Malaysia; 82 in the Maldives; 300 in Myanmar; and 150 in Somalia — death toll included 1,500 Scandinavian tourists, and dozens of Germans, Italians, Dutch and Americans.
1976 earthquake, 8.0 on Richter scale, Tangshan China; 750,000 dead.
1970 cyclone, Bangladesh; 300,000 dead
1887 flood, Hunan Province, China, on Yellow River; 500,000+ dead.
1556 earthquake, perhaps world's deadliest, Honan/Shensi provinces; 830,000 dead.
IMPACT 6 DISASTERS:
While there have been no events of this category in recent decades, there are numerous stories of worldwide catastrophes in ancient times.
