2006年VOA标准英语-UN: Natural Disasters Rose Last Year

By Lisa Schlein
Geneva
30 January 2006
 
 
Former President George Bush, right, with an earthquake survivor¹ from Leepa Valley of Pakistani Kashmir during his visit to quake survivors²' tented village in Islamabad
  
A new report shows the number of natural disasters around the world rose by 18 percent last year, killing³ nearly 92,000 people, affecting the lives of 157 million people, and causing hundreds of billions of dollars in economic damage.   The figures were compiled by the Belgian Universite Catholique de Louvain's Center for Research on the Epidemiology of Disasters and the U.N. International Strategy for Disaster Reduction in Geneva.

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Last year's loss of life from natural disasters was significantly lower than in 2004 when nearly one-quarter of one million people died.   Although the numbers of people killed in the last two years is high compared to figures from the last decade, the report notes that most disaster-related deaths were due to a single incident of devastating⁴ proportions.  In 2004, the Indian Ocean tsunami⁵ claimed the most lives.  Last year, it was the South Asian earthquake.

The Head of the Louvain's Center for Research, Debrati Guha Sapir, says most deaths occur in poor countries, whereas the largest amount of economic damage happens in rich countries.  In 2005, she says disasters cost $159 billion in damage, with  Hurricane Katrina that slammed into the U.S. gulf⁶ coast accounting⁷ for $125 billion in losses.

Picola Brown, a resident of the Ninth Ward⁸ in New Orleans talks with a member of the Army's 82nd Airborne after being evacuated⁹ from her flooded home on Wednesday, Sept. 7, 2005  
  
"If you compare the tsunami in Asia, you have very high deaths, 226,000 – 250,000 people dead, a quarter of a million, and you have eight percent of the total amount of economic damage in that whole year for that tsunami," she said.  "[The] Earthquake in Pakistan, even less.  You have 73,000 deaths and you have only three percent of the total economic damage for Pakistan.  Hurricane Katrina, you have 1,300 dead and there you have 78 percent of the total economic damage for just that one single disaster." 

Last year, the report finds there were 360 natural disasters compared to 305 the year before.  It says the increase was mainly due to the rising numbers of floods and droughts, followed by windstorms.  Pakistan, Guatemala and the United States had the largest number of deaths and China, India and the United States had the largest number of disasters.

The Director of the U.N.'s International Strategy for Disaster Reduction, Salvano Briceno, says additional threats such as global warming, environmental degradation¹⁰ and rapid urbanization make millions of people more vulnerable to natural hazards.

"Natural hazards are becoming very rapidly an increasing threat to development," he said.  "There is also a worrying trend, which is the increasing urbanization.  Although we are in a process of reducing the number of deaths, there is an increasing potential for greater disasters in the future.  That is our concern, that if we do not work more actively¹¹ on reducing urban risks and environmental risks, we may be in for bigger disasters in the future." 

Briceno says it may not be possible to prevent natural disasters from happening, but their impact can be reduced.  For example, he says earthquakes cannot be stopped, but buildings can be constructed so they will not be destroyed and will not fall on people and kill them.

1 survivor   

n.生存者，残存者，幸存者

参考例句：

• The sole survivor of the crash was an infant.这次撞车的惟一幸存者是一个婴儿。
• There was only one survivor of the plane crash.这次飞机失事中只有一名幸存者。

2 survivors   

幸存者，残存者，生还者( survivor的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The survivors were adrift in a lifeboat for six days. 幸存者在救生艇上漂流了六天。
• survivors clinging to a raft 紧紧抓住救生筏的幸存者

3 killing   

n.巨额利润；突然赚大钱，发大财

参考例句：

• Investors are set to make a killing from the sell-off.投资者准备清仓以便大赚一笔。
• Last week my brother made a killing on Wall Street.上个周我兄弟在华尔街赚了一大笔。

4 devastating   

adj.毁灭性的，令人震惊的，强有力的

参考例句：

• It is the most devastating storm in 20 years.这是20年来破坏性最大的风暴。
• Affairs do have a devastating effect on marriages.婚外情确实会对婚姻造成毁灭性的影响。

5 tsunami   

n.海啸

参考例句：

• Powerful quake sparks tsunami warning in Japan.大地震触发了日本的海啸预警。
• Coastlines all around the Indian Ocean inundated by a huge tsunami.大海啸把印度洋沿岸地区都淹没了。

6 gulf   

n.海湾；深渊，鸿沟；分歧，隔阂

参考例句：

• The gulf between the two leaders cannot be bridged.两位领导人之间的鸿沟难以跨越。
• There is a gulf between the two cities.这两座城市间有个海湾。

7 accounting   

n.会计，会计学，借贷对照表

参考例句：

• A job fell vacant in the accounting department.财会部出现了一个空缺。
• There's an accounting error in this entry.这笔账目里有差错。

8 ward   

n.守卫，监护，病房，行政区，由监护人或法院保护的人（尤指儿童）；vt.守护，躲开

参考例句：

• The hospital has a medical ward and a surgical ward.这家医院有内科病房和外科病房。
• During the evening picnic,I'll carry a torch to ward off the bugs.傍晚野餐时，我要点根火把，抵挡蚊虫。

9 evacuated   

撤退者的

参考例句：

• Police evacuated nearby buildings. 警方已将附近大楼的居民疏散。
• The fireman evacuated the guests from the burning hotel. 消防队员把客人们从燃烧着的旅馆中撤出来。

10 degradation   

n.降级；低落；退化；陵削；降解；衰变

参考例句：

• There are serious problems of land degradation in some arid zones.在一些干旱地带存在严重的土地退化问题。
• Gambling is always coupled with degradation.赌博总是与堕落相联系。

11 actively   

adv.积极地，勤奋地

参考例句：

• During this period all the students were actively participating.在这节课中所有的学生都积极参加。
• We are actively intervening to settle a quarrel.我们正在积极调解争执。