Only a few months ago we stood in the year 2008, a year that allowed us to witness many events, some good, some bad and others unimaginable. 2008 paved the path for an economic decline yet also a hopeful outlook as America elected its first black President.
A reflection on 2008 also reminds many of the devastations caused throughout the world by natural disasters such as Cyclones, Earthquakes, Typhoons and Storms. These curve balls thrown by Mother Nature left over 220,000 people dead, many injured, countless homeless and billions of dollars worth of property damages.
The calamities of the past year were the most costly in terms of financial damage and the count of fatalities although there were less natural disasters than in 2007..
Some of the most notable natural disasters include Cyclone Nargis in May 2008, which pummeled Myanmar leaving millions homeless and killing more than 135,000 people and then a jolting Earthquake that left thousands dead, many people missing and millions homeless in the Sichuan province of China just a few days later. This Earthquake is also noted as the most expensive disaster of 2008, eliciting 85 billion dollars worth of damages. As Nargis was wreaking havoc on Myanmar, Emma and Hilal were leaving behind billions of dollars worth of destruction in Europe and Typhoon Fengshen was the cause of 557 deaths in China and the Philippines that June. .
October brought with it shattering Earthquakes in Pakistan that left 300 dead while six tropical cyclones clobbered the southern United States, one of which includes Hurricane Ike, with insured losses of 10 billion dollars making it the country’s costliest catastrophe of the year.
Astonishingly, the ten warmest years ever recorded have all occurred in the last 12 years With that being said, it should also be noted that a big contributor to the weather extremes we have been facing is changes in climate and the progressive warming of the atmosphere accredited to greenhouse gases being released by human activity..
These phenomenon’s of nature are frightening yet should stand as motivators in preparing ones self for possible future occurrences, some of which are inevitable depending on where you live. While it is important to know how to react to a natural disaster properly, it is probably more crucial to be proactive, formulating a plan of action and having the resources available to execute it.
While it is true that we cannot control the ways of Mother Nature, we can and should take control of our safety. The reigns of our lives are in our hands, it is up to us what we do with them.
Posted by ccederquist 
