Funky facts
Hurricanes are fast winds that swirl around a central 'eye'. In India and Australia they're called cyclones. People in the west Pacific call them typhoons.
There are more than 3 million earthquakes in the world every year that's one every 11 seconds! Most are very small 'microquakes'.
When a volcano erupts, hot liquid rock flows out. Volcanoes also spit out hot ash and gases. If a volcano erupts under or near the sea, it can cause a tidal wave.
Out of every 100 people in the world who die as a result of a natural disaster, 96 of them lived in poor countries.
Why do disasters happen?
We often hear about natural disasters on the news earthquakes, hurricanes, a volcano erupting, droughts and floods. Often many people are killed, lots of homes are destroyed and it takes a long time to get things back to normal.
People call these events natural disasters because they seem to just happen. But recently we've realised that humans do things that probably make disasters worse and happen more often.
Why are disasters harder for poor countries?
People who are poor often have little choice about where they live. If their house is next to a river that floods every time there is heavy rain, they can't just move to a new house. Many people in poor countries don't have TVs, radios or phones, so they don't hear weather forecasts and can't get to a safe place before a big hurricane or flood hits.
In a poor country, the government has lots of work to do. It needs to improve schools and hospitals and make sure that people have jobs. Often, helping their people get ready for disasters doesn't happen as well as it would like.
When a disaster hits a poor country, it can undo years of hard work that people have put in to make their country better.
How can poor countries escape disasters?
Simple things can make a big difference. After bad floods in Mozambique, some teachers were asked to be flood monitors. They checked the level of the rivers and warned people if a flood was coming. The government gave them radios, bicycles and motorcycles to help them spread news quickly.
In 1998, Hurricane Mitch hit Nicaragua and other countries in Central America. It caused terrible damage and killed over 20,000 people. Three years later, Hurricane Michelle hit nearby Cuba. People there had planned what to do in an emergency, and left their homes and took shelter in time. Only five people were killed even though Hurricane Michelle was even stronger than Hurricane Mitch.
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Gus Clarke
The wind in a hurricane moves faster than the speed limit on UK motorways!
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