2017 International Conference on Arts and Design, Education and Social Sciences (ADESS 2017) ISBN: 978-1-60595-511-7

Causes and Effect of Several Typical Natural Disasters in

YUFENG WEI

ABSTRACT

In the context of climate changing, natural disaster like mud flow, wind, flood and other typical natural disasters occur frequently and cause serious losses to society, which has aroused wide-spread concern in the international community. The study of the causes and effects of natural disasters not only plays an important part of pilot that can help the researchers understand the impact of climate change, but also is a strong demand of human to mitigate the risks of natural disasters, thus protecting people and state property and maintaining social stability. This paper provides detailed data and information about natural disasters in China and analyzes the trend of the disasters. Meanwhile, this paper details the causes of several typical natural disasters and their changing trends in recent years. By summarizing the death toll, economic losses and the affected population of important data that reflect the impact of natural disasters, we review and comment on several typical natural disasters in China from 2000 to 2017.

INTRODUCTION

There are a great variety of natural disasters in China. Among them, floods, windstorms and mudslides, with their huge kinetic energy, have caused varying degrees of damage to houses, roads, railways, farmland and trees, and have brought huge losses to lives, state property and the production of workers and peasants. Fig.1 and Fig.2 respectively show the distributions of typical natural disasters quantity (mud flow, wind disaster and flood disaster) and the composition of the disasters from 2000 to 2017. From the figures, it can be seen that the trend of the wind and flood disaster are in a consistent condition while the frequency of the mud flow fluctuates obviously. However, the total number of occurrences of these kinds of disasters is still increasing year by year except the number in the year 2017, which may because the data is incomplete. The causes and effect of flood disaster, wind disaster and mud flow will be analysed in the following sections.

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Yufeng Wei, [email protected], School of mechanics and electricity, Beijing Institute of Technology, Beijing, China

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Figure 1. The frequency of occurrences of the natural disasters from 2000 to 2017.

Figure 2. The composition of the disasters happened from 2000 to 2017 (a) Collapsed House (b) Economic Loss (c) Death Toll (d) Affected Population.

836 THE INTRODUCTION OF THE DISASTERS

Flood disaster

The flood is a phenomenon that the water flows from the normal water level of a river or other water bodies, or the phenomenon that the water accumulates in areas that are not flooded under normal conditions [1]. Among the 15 major natural disasters announced and focused by the United Nations, flood disaster is one of the most concentrated, affected and the most disastrous disasters [2]. The losses caused by the flood disaster accounts for one-fifth of those caused by worldwide natural disasters [3] In China, flood disasters also occur frequently. Since 2000, according to the statistics (see Table 1), floods in China have occurred 514 times, with a total of 1345 deaths, 3074 injuries and 440,000 houses destroyed, affecting 1.2 billion people and losing 409.734 billion dollars. Statistics show that during the year 2000-2017, catastrophic flood occurs almost every year in China, which has killed at least 30 people and caused hundreds of millions of dollars in losses. In June 2002, 12 cities and prefectures in Sichuan Province suffered from floods, causing 62 deaths and 7 missing persons, resulting in direct economic losses of 0.34 billion dollars. In September 2003, floods hit Shanxi Province, causing 220,000 houses collapsed and 253,000 houses damaged, resulting in a direct economic loss of 0.46 billion dollars. In July 2004, Huaihua and other 9 cities in Province were subjected to the disaster, causing 2.6773 million people to suffer a disaster and 2 people to die, with a direct economic loss of 0.17 billion dollars. In June 2005, 32 people were killed and 32 were missing in northern and central Province. 35,000 houses have collapsed with a direct economic loss which was 0.59 billion dollars. In May 2006, Chongqing city flashed floods which caused triggered landslides, debris flows and other geological disasters. 1,221,000 people were killed in 9 districts and counties (cities), 927 houses were destroyed, and 9553 houses were damaged, with a direct economic loss of 0.19 billion dollars. Also in 2006, an extraordinary flood disaster hit Fujian in June. In six stricken cities, Longyan, Sanming, Quanzhou, Ningde, Fuzhou and Nanping, there were 25 people killed and 9,300 houses collapsed, accompanied with a direct loss of more than 0.46 billion dollars and. In 2007, the flash flood caused landslides and debris flow in Shaanxi Province, killing 26 people and causing a direct loss of 1 billion dollars as a result of the disaster. In August 2008, 5.4934 million people in 46 cities, counties and districts of Guangxi Province near China-Vietnam boarder suffered from floods with a direct economic losses of 0.38 billion dollars. In July 2009, Guangxi, Jiangxi and other 12 provinces and municipalities were affected from the disaster and 75 people died and a direct economic loss is of 1.9 billion dollars due to the disaster. Floods hit Hainan Province in 2010, causing 129.5 people in 15 cities (counties) including Haikou, Wenchang and Qionghai to suffer a direct economic loss of 2.32 billion dollars. In 2011, the city Lianyungang which located in Province suffered severe flood disaster. The affected population reached 1,593,000 and the economic loss was 0.07 billion dollars. In 2012, a flood occurred in Xide County located in Sichuan Province, causing great economical losses. In 2013, 290,000 people by 7 cities such as Tianshui and Longnan in Gansu Province were affected, with an economic loss of 0.087 billion dollars. In 2014, Hebei and Henan Province suffered super floods with economic losses of 0.0023 billion dollars. In 2016, floods in Fujian, Jiangxi, Hunan and other places caused 1.2 billion dollars loss.

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TABLE 1. THE EFFECTS OF FLOOD DISASTERS FROM 2000 TO 2017. Affected Injury Death Economic Loss Collapsed Year Population Times Toll Toll (million $) House (million) 2000 2 288 0 - 8 0 2001 5 41 0.2400 153.86 11 0 2002 138 141 3.804 617.47 27 5,025 2003 73 77 4.643 728.28 8 220,000 2004 26 161 15.786 704.62 20 2,966 2005 100 376 9.399 3,419.30 34 178,000 2006 164 219 23.963 4,400.86 46 37,038 2007 436 406 7.013 3,013.14 34 4,345 2008 6 146 27.586 1,436.60 38 0 2009 33 114 5.797 2,488.55 12 0 2010 0 0 1.306 247.80 6 0 2011 35 41 6.729 1,643.60 19 100 2012 23 76 6.428 748.62 37 1,700 2013 61 294 1,084.676 626.32 45 0 2014 45 219 4.698 168.19 48 0 2015 27 96 3.686 566.99 47 0 2016 171 378 34.543 20,002.41 69 0 2017 0 1 0.207 16.14 5 15 Total 1,345 3,074 1,240.509 40,982.74 514 449,189

Wind disaster

Wind disaster is a kind of catastrophic weather phenomenon which mainly includes tornadoes and typhoons (including tropical storm, tropical storm, typhoon, strong typhoon and super typhoon) There into the tornado is a kind of intense vortex in a small scale. It is fierce and destructive with thunderstorms, hail and heavy rainfall in addition to the great gusts and pressure changes. Therefore, it should be taken seriously in disaster prevention and relief work. The formation of tornado should have a suitable environmental flow field, such as rising and sinking airflow and vertical wind shear. Its appearance and strength are closely related to terrain and ground conditions. Globally, China is an area with less tornado formation. However, most parts of southern China have flat terrain, high temperature and high humidity in summer or autumn which provide favorable background conditions for the development of convective weather and the emergence of tornadoes. Tornado also occurred more than a thousand times in 2000-2017. As a result, this article has included tornadoes in the statistics of natural disasters in China. Typhoon, belonging to the category of tropical cyclones, is a cyclonic vortex that occurs in tropical or subtropical seas [4]. China is one of the few countries which are hit hardest by the typhoon in the world. An average of about 7 typhoons appear in China each year. Typhoons may occur in coastal provinces such as Hainan, Guangxi, Guangdong, Taiwan, Fujian, Zhejiang, Shanghai, Jiangsu, Shandong, Hebei, Tianjin

838 and Liaoning provinces (cities and autonomous regions), their impact may even extend to inland areas. In summer and autumn, typhoons and tornados are the most important and disastrous weather phenomenon along the southeastern coast of China, giving rise to the worries of people about personal security and tremendous damage to state property. According to statistics (see Table 2), typhoons and tornadoes occurred 579 times in 2000-2017, killing 1,781 people, injuring 6,264 people. Meanwhile, 23 million people were affected during this period, resulting in economic losses of 40.7 billion dollars. 32 tornadoes or typhoons take shape in China each year on average, 9 people die in typhoon disaster each year and state property of 19.13 billion dollars is lost. From another perspective, each tornado or typhoon will result in the death of three people, 10 people wounded and the economic loss of 0.045 billion dollars. Like flood disasters, China suffers about four catastrophic wind disaster every year, causing huge losses to industry, agriculture and forestry. In 2001, China suffered six special typhoons and tornado disasters. Lingquan County, Province, suffered four successive tornado disasters, killing two people and wounding 30 people, covering an area of 173 square kilometers and a population of 120,000. Meanwhile, 2,626 houses were collapsed, more than thousand trees were scraped with 29 livestocks killed.

TABLE 2. THE EFFECTS OF WIND DISASTER FROM 2000 TO 2017. Affected Injury Death Economic Loss Collapsed Year Population Times Toll Toll (million $) House (million) 2000 290 20 0.004 - 2 0 2001 3,618 37 6.510 522.67 14 8,700 2002 324 82 10.415 127.09 30 4,190 2003 14 45 1.726 254.06 9 2,000 2004 503 200 17.635 3,293.11 33 20,101 2005 471 1,117 11.058 2,480.82 25 16,980 2006 205 308 0.770 8,529.12 41 670 2007 446 62 2.428 925.48 12 17,227 2008 133 41 0.760 412.01 29 12,735 2009 76 28 13.107 1,484.64 26 208 2010 5 7 0.513 267.29 7 0 2011 45 34 101.806 333.52 31 400 2012 135 35 8.614 500.10 50 124 2013 143 229 14.635 969.13 78 0 2014 14 77 13.491 3,189.41 57 63 2015 28 102 24.445 5,704.09 65 0 2016 80 154 13.768 5,566.93 40 0 2017 0 12 0.632 95.12 14 16 Total 6,264 1,781 232.010 40,702.98 579 67,104

839 Mud flow

Mud flow is a gusty natural disaster. In about 2/3 of China's territory, there are mudslides occurring in mountainous areas, especially in the mountains around the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, the Qinling Mountains, the Taihang Mountains and the Yanshan Mountains. According to statistics (see Table 3), from 2000 to 2017, there were 1135 mud flows in China, with 4625 deaths and 3554 injuries, causing an economic loss of 1.6 billion dollars and a disaster toll of more than 19,000 with 4613 houses destroyed. From the above data and figures 1 and 2, we can conclude that among the three different types of disasters, mud flow is the most frequent occurring although the casualties and economic losses are the least. This is because: 1) Debris flow generally occurs in local areas, the destroyed scope is much smaller than the other two disasers. 2) Debris fans generally appear in mountainous areas. According to the research [5], nearly 1,000 cities in China's Mainland, including Xining and other provincial cities, are established in areas where mud flows are frequent, resulting in the highest occurrence frequency of mud flow . However, once the debris flow occurs in the city or its scope of damage spreads, the loss is also extremely serious. In August 2002, rainstorms caused landslides, mud flows and flash floods in Yunnan Province, affecting 158 cities and counties in the province, killing 158 people and injuring nearly 400 people, causing direct economic losses of 0.55 billion dollars. In 2003, Badong County in Hubei Province suffered severe hailstone and mud flow disasters, causing 7 towns and villages in Badong County to suffer in varying degrees. Among them, Lvupo Town and Chadianzi Town encountered the most serious problems. 118 houses were collapsed, 544 houses became dilapidated and nearly 2,000 people got homeless. The disasters killed scores of livestocks and destroyed 210 kilometers of highways and 7 bridges. In 2004, Hunan suffered landslides and mud flows, leading to 28 people dead and 27 missing. The number of affected people was 7.8 million and the direct economic loss was 0.4 billion dollars. In the same year, Yunnan suffered a mud flow that killed 2 people, injured more than 40 people and collapsed over 2,500 houses. In 2005, landslides and mud flows in northern Fujian killed at least 14 people and left 30 people missing, with a direct economic loss of 0.23 billion dollars. In 2007, floods, landslides and mudslides occurred in south-central Fujian. 400 thousand people in 22 counties (cities or districts) of Longyan, Zhangzhou, Quanzhou and Nanping were affected and the direct economic losses were 0.06 billion dollars. In 2010, a mud flow led to train derailment, 19 people were killed and 71 injured. In July 2011, a huge landslide triggered a natural disaster of mud flow in Shangri-La County, Yunnan Province. It affected 24 villagers, destroyed 55 houses two hydropower stations, with the economic loss of 0.018 billion dollars. In the same year, a heavy rain caused a mud flow in Miyun County, Beijing, killing two people and causing economic losses of 0.084 billion dollars. In 2012, heavy hail, flash floods and mud flows occurred simultaneously, killing 37 people, leaving 51 injured, affecting 358,00. In 2014, a landslide disaster occurred in Fugong County, Yunnan Province, causing property loss of 0.031 billion dollars.

840 TABLE 3. THE EFFECTS OF MUD FLOW FROM 2000 TO 2017. Affected Injury Death Economic Loss Collapsed Year Population Times Toll Toll (million $) House (million) 2000 1 159 0.004 - 11 0 2001 64 173 0.210 - 33 0 2002 583 387 3.280 551.88 57 102 2003 54 71 0.002 - 21 128 2004 71 426 14.300 464.35 75 2,500 2005 382 246 0.021 235.16 92 1,533 2006 156 408 - 4.722 92 0 2007 166 325 1.119 104.95 61 0 2008 307 248 0.003 - 99 7 2009 132 118 0.031 0.85 57 0 2010 110 250 0.006 0.04 65 16 2011 37 194 0.015 110.01 88 252 2012 246 304 0.517 83.35 78 0 2013 259 436 0.080 0.24 1 43 2014 262 248 0.0003 30.60 106 5 2015 270 284 - 9.13 76 27 2016 548 321 0.130 0.42 102 0 2017 6 27 0.012 1.68 21 0 Total 3,654 4,625 19.735 1,597.42 1,135 4,613

CONCLUSION

Natural disasters are inevitable events in the evolution of geographical environment, but it has become one of the most important natural factors that affect human activities and hinder social development. Therefore, predicting and protecting natural disasters, reducing disaster losses, safeguarding personal and property security and social stability have become the common concerns of governments all over the world. This paper reviews the number of natural disasters such as mud flow, wind and flood disaster in China from 2000 to 2017 as well as the the quantity of casualties and the loss of property and constructions. The paper introduces the causes of certain typical nature diasters such as mud flow, wind disaster and flood diaster, reviews the effect of them from 2000 to 2017 via counting the death toll, economic losses, affected population and collapsed houses.The analysis of the trends of these disasters by related statistics is also illustrated. Aiming at providing data and theoretical support for disaster prevention and mitigation in the future, it is unexceptionable that researchers and related workers can have access to the safeguards against natural disasters and the preparation of reaction systems based on the causes and predicted trends of natural disasters introduced in this article.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Corresponding author: Yufeng Wei

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