As the 8.9 magnitude earthquake in Japan has brought the focus on to world disasters that have affected thousands, we take a look at a decade of disasters and all the key data

In the days since disaster first struck Japan, comparisons with the January 2010 earthquake in Haiti have been quick to emerge. While the final human cost of the Japan disaster is still unknown, it is still unlikely to compare to the 222,570-strong death toll from the Haiti earthquake.

Charles Kenny, from the US-based Centre for Global Development called this “seismic inequality”. It is evidence, he said, that “the usual pattern has been repeated: Earthquakes don’t kill people in rich countries; they kill people in poor countries.”

Over the past decade, countries across the world – both rich and poor – have witnessed thousands of major natural disasters. We’ve pulled out some of the data, from the 2010 World Disasters Report.

Voor het hele artikel, klik hier.