Southeast Asia, Home of the Natural Disaster

Recently, it seems as if Southeastern Asia has been home to many a natural disaster with many casualties associated. Disasters have hit the Samoan Islands, the Phillipines, and Indonesia, each with absolutely catastrophic effects.

Granted, the Samoan Islands may be both extremely south and east, but for some reason, this region of the world has been pummeled recently. Thus far, at least 165 people have been killed by powerful magnitude 8.0 earthquake that struck the area, as well as from the associated tsunami. For more information on the disaster, feel free to browse cnn's article focusing on aid being sent to the region by the world. According to CNN, some villages have completely disappeared. Any crops they were growing or any sense of an economy in the area has been absolutely decimated. With the United States being in charge of American Samoa, FEMA is looking to reclaim a sense of dignity after the hurricane Katrina fiasco on the mainland. We will wait and see how FEMA fares this time around, but for the people of the area, I sincerely hope FEMA has learned from its mistakes and will be able to bring these people back to their former state of living asap.

The next disaster is currently still being updated, but the Phillipines (a former United States possession) is currently being struck by a strong typhoon. The typhoon caused numerous landslides that devastated the people living on the islands. As of 8:45 eastern time, there are 15 confirmed dead and there are not yet any estimates on how high the casualty count will rise. There are various enomorous areas of power outages, effectively halting and form of industrial economy and crippling the regions until power can be restored. Luckily winds are not a huge factor with this typhoon as they reached a high of 120 km per hour but the rain is the true killer here. As mentioned, it has created landslides and flooding is expected as well to make the situation even worse. See more about the typhoon here.

Last but not at all least is the fallout from two earthquakes having hit Indonesia. A 7.6 quake hit Sumatra on Wednesday while a 6.6 quake struck on Thursday morning in the same region. Current casualty estimates lie between 1,100 and 1,500 but the Indonesian government has claimed that about 4,000 people could be buried alive beneath the rubble and casualites could easily reach a much higher level. Thus far, only 25 bodies have actually been removed from the rubble so there is much work to be done. This is an absolute disaster for the island. Bridges are gone, power is out, water lines are broken, there is no sense of civilization left in the region. As for a relation to the international economy, this disaster means that for the moment, this region of Indonesia has no economy whatsoever. Any efforts from people in the region at the moment are entirely focussed upon saving those who are trapped and being buried alive beneath thousands of tons of rubble. For more information about this awful disaster, check out cnn's updating correspondence.

Three terrible disaster in the time of half a week. Southeast Asia is truly being pummeled. In total, casualities could reach 5,000 people in this region. Entire economies have been obliterated, people will have to begin with nothing. Any investments are sure to have been wiped out and in a part of the world that is still developing, it is highly questionable whether there are any types of insurance against such disasters that would allow these people to rebuild. For many in the developing world, a disaster such as these means ruin. A life of poverty would follow with almost no chance of recovery since they would be stuck in so great a hole that they had no hope of ever climbing out. I cannot help but wonder whether the death rate would be the same had equally terrible disaster hit a developed area of the world. Hurricane Katrina did not cause nearly as many deaths, but population density must also be taken into consideration. How much of an effect do better quality buildings, proper channels of warning communication, highly developed emergency plans, and other potentially life saving items have on the casualty rates of natural disasters such as these? This is a question worth some consideration. If it is as I would hypothesize and it has a great effect, then it truly does matter when your crib lies...it could make the difference between life and death when nature comes knocking at the door.