Mother Nature

It was a rather devastating year thanks to mother nature. In Japan one of the largest recorded earthquakes ever occurred off its north eastern coast. Although the earthquake itself did little damage, it was the massive tsunami that followed that wreaked the devastation. Over 15,000 people were killed in a matter of minutes. The Fukushima Nuclear reactor nearly went into meltdown, which would have caused a Chernobyl-scale disaster according to experts. Thankfully, due to the bravery of a few men, the problem was solved. Yet this event raised the issue over the safety of nuclear power. As a reaction to the tsunami many nuclear reactors in Japan are being shut down and programs across the world have been suspended or cancelled. Unfortunately Japan was not the only country to experience earthquakes, New Zealand and Turkey both experienced two earthquakes in the same area of their countries.

Floods tore through many nations, Brazil had flooding in Rio de Janeiro and 500 lives were lost in the torrents. Floods also returned to Pakistan for the second year and although not as devastating as 2010, they still destroyed the livelihoods of millions of people. Australia and the Philippines also experienced devastating floods.

Statistics show that over the past few decades the cost of natural disasters has been, for the most part, rising. One of the problems is the world’s expanding population. Countries are becoming more overcrowded and people are being forced to live on flood plains and other places often subjected to natural disasters. This will inevitably cause a rise in the cost of natural disasters and will pose difficult tasks for the years ahead.

The Japanese tsunami as it came ashore.