The Cost of Mother Nature

Natural disasters are nothing new however, over the past few years they have been the subject to much discussion both inside and outside Parliament buildings. According to the article "Counting the costs of calamities" published originally in print form for The Economist, the economic cost of disasters are rising.

The article claims that deaths from natural disasters are lessening and that assumptions of their increased frequency are misplaced. It is rather our tendency to situate ourselves around these "disaster prone areas" such as coastal cities and along earthquake fault lines for example. The cities most in danger are becoming more and more concentrated with people and assets.

The article uses Florida as an example which has increased in population by almost six fold in the last 60 years. Roger Pielke of the University of Colorado at Boulder states "The Great Miami Hurricane of 1926, which cost $1 billion in 2011 dollars, would cause $188 billion of damage now."


We have seen the brutal consequences that followed the destruction of Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans in 2005 and most recently Hurricane Sandy 2 months ago through the state of New York.

Aerial views of the damage caused by Hurricane Sandy to the New Jersey coast taken during a search and rescue mission by 1-150 Assault Helicopter Battalion, New Jersey Army National Guard, Oct. 30, 2012. (U.S. Air Force photo by Master Sgt. Mark C. Olsen/Released)

(http://www.flickr.com/photos/33252741@N08/8140596235)

According to Cathy Hayes, IrishCentral Staff Writer, Hurricane Sandy has caused $71 billion worth of damage. It ripped through the densely populated New York/New Jersey area killing 121 people destroying 305,000 homes and causing 2.2 million power outages. New York state's governor Andrew Cuomo, told the press his state alone will need $42 billion in federal aid to rebuild itself. Below is the path of Hurricane Sandy.

Hurricane Sandy's path
(image credit: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Sandy_2012_track.png)

There is more than just economic costs associated with natural disasters, there are human costs such as loss of life which cannot be measured. Luckily this number is shrinking as technology is helping us identify storms earlier and with more accuracy. However, if these storms remain relentless in their destruction for the foreseeable future, it will be interesting to see what measures coastal cities will take to prepare themselves.