Has there been an increase in natural disasters, and if so, why?

It seems to many people that the number of major natural disasters must be on the increase. Certainly, we seem to have been made aware of a great number in recent years. Most of us will have watched harrowing scenes connected with these on our television sets.

Recent natural disasters include the hugely destructive Indian Ocean tsunami of December 2004, Hurricane Katrina, which caused such severe flooding in New Orleans in the United States, in August 2005, and, in May 2008, the cataclysmic Cyclone Nargis, which hit Myanmar. Then, in January 2010, in Haiti, came a devastating earthquake.

In addition, we have received news of severe flooding from various parts of the world-most recently, at the end of 2010 and the beginning of 2011, in Australia. Much of Queensland was declared an official disaster area and many people had to leave their houses.

Has there actually been a great increase in the number of natural worldwide disasters? Many experts say no. They say that historical statistical evidence shows that such natural disasters have always occurred from time to time. In fact, some experts emphasize that several of the recent disasters have not been as severe as some former ones.

Some experts proffer the opinion that it is world awareness of these disasters, rather than the number of disasters, that has increased. Modern communication systems have made it possible for news of events to be sent round the world virtually as soon as the events occur. Globalization has made us less parochial and much more aware of what is happening outside our country.

Others say that we tend to forget an important fact about natural phenomena, such as earthquakes and tornadoes, in modern times. This is that modern technology has made it easier to detect such things. For example, the establishment of a national Doppler Radar System in the United States has made it much easier to detect the presence of tornadoes. Before, people were unaware of many of these.

Some people persist in the belief that natural disasters have proliferated recently. If this is the case, what has caused them? A lot of ordinary people, together with some politicians and experts, are convinced that the frequency and severity of global natural disasters, especially flooding, are a result of global warming or climate change.

The United Nations panel concerned with climate change, at one point recently, officially linked global warming with an increase in the number and severity of such disasters as hurricanes and floods. This link was challenged by opponents and the report on which it was based was found to be lacking in sufficient evidence.

It is highly possible that some of the seeming increase in natural disasters is down to the actions of human beings. Much of the considerable recent growth in population, with a corresponding growth in houses and other structures, has been in coastal areas. This has inevitably resulted in greater exposure to cyclones and tidal waves. As for inland flooding, some of this can be put down to the construction of building developments on flood plains which had not been built on before.

There remain, therefore, several unknowns about natural disasters. What is not unknown is the scale of the physical and emotional suffering that they bring to people who have had the terrible misfortune to be visited by them.