Terrible disasters of 2024: Thousands killed, trillions in damage

Kathmandu, 2024 has been a difficult year for the global community due to natural disasters. Last year, natural disasters caused economic losses of about 310 billion US dollars worldwide. The data of the Swiss reinsurance company “Swiss Relais” has made such an estimate. Economic damage has increased by 6 percent compared to 2023 due to the climate crisis. Due to these disasters, millions of people around the world have been affected and thousands have lost their lives.

It is hoped that the year 2025 will be a year of inspiration for everyone with the achievements and lessons of the past year. In 2024, along with climate change, many natural disasters such as drought, drought, low rainfall, heavy rainfall and the resulting desertification, floods and landslides also occurred.

2024 the hottest year
The temperature continues to rise due to climate change. Human encroachment on nature is considered the main responsibility for this. Scientists have been warning for decades that human use of fossil fuels will likely permanently change the climate. Scientific discoveries are also responsible for modern practice. The facts also support these claims.

Carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere continue to rise, with 2024 set to be the hottest year on record. The 2015 Paris Agreement committed to significantly reducing the risks and impacts of climate change as part of efforts to prevent the world from permanently exceeding record high temperatures. The agreement aims to hold the increase in global average temperatures to well below 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels and to pursue efforts to limit the temperature increase to 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels.

The annual international climate conference, COP29, has made modest progress in helping developing countries cut emissions and finance climate adaptation. Scientists have made progress on a range of technologies designed to mitigate the effects of climate change and accelerate the transition to a green economy. However, their success may be too little and too late.

While there are many events that we all remember, this year has seen one of the deadliest disasters and climate crises in the world. Here we look at some of the deadliest climate disasters and other disasters of 2024:

Wayanad landslides in Kerala
A massive landslide occurred on July 30 in the mountainous region of Wayanad district in Kerala, India. The landslide killed more than 200 people and left many homeless. Dozens of children were orphaned. It is considered one of the worst and deadliest natural disasters in Kerala’s history. Hundreds were buried under the rubble. Many were rescued and extricated by army teams.

Milton Hurricane in Florida
Milton, a hurricane, brought at least 20 percent more rain to the west coast of Florida, USA, on October 9. It also brought 10 percent more powerful storms. According to scientists, the powerful winds made it 10 percent stronger than a rare hurricane.

According to the US National Hurricane Center, Milton Hurricane was located about 485 kilometers southwest of Tampa Bay. With this in mind, officials warned people to leave the area. The center has classified Milton as a Category 5. Milton had winds of 270 kilometers per hour. Tampa police said it was the strongest storm of the century.
Milton topped the list as a terrifyingly large and dangerous event. It caused $60 billion in damage and killed 25 people.

Hurricane Helen
The next hurricane, Helen, was a devastating Category 4 storm. This storm hit the United States, Cuba and Mexico in September. It killed 232 people and caused about $55 billion in damage.

Typhoon Yagi
In September, Asia’s most powerful storm Yagi, which hit northern Vietnam, killed many people and caused widespread damage. Reports say that Yagi, which hit Southwest Asia, killed more than 800 people. The storm made landfall in the Philippines on September 2 before hitting Laos, Myanmar, Vietnam and Thailand, causing flash floods and landslides, damaging millions of homes and farmland.

Typhoon Yagi is said to be the strongest in Vietnam in three decades. The storm’s maximum sustained winds reached 245 kilometers per hour, making it the strongest storm to hit Asia this year.

Cyclone Chido
In December, 11 people were killed when Typhoon Chido hit the French Indian Ocean island of Mayotte. It was the strongest storm to hit the region in nearly a century, according to AFP.

Winds were gusting to 225 kilometers per hour during the storm. The death toll was expected to rise.

All temporary homes in Mayotte were completely destroyed by the storm. Interior Minister Bruno Ritello said Mayotte had not been hit by a storm this strong since 1934.

Colombia Drought
2024 saw the worst drought on record, bringing the water levels of rivers in the Amazon basin to historically low levels. In some cases, riverbanks that were once waterways dried up. The Solimões, one of the main tributaries of the mighty Amazon River, which originates in the Peruvian Andes, reached its lowest level on record in the Brazilian city of Tabatinga, which borders Colombia.

Indian heatwave kills over 3,000
In early 2024, the Center for Science and Environment reported that India experienced 93 percent of the highest daily heatwaves, with more than 3,200 deaths on 255 of the 276 days in the first nine months of 2024. The extreme heatwaves affected agricultural crops. Millions of homes were destroyed and livestock were killed.

A similar report said that 33 million people in Bangladesh were also affected by extreme heatwaves.

Brazil floods
The state of Rio Grande do Sul in southern Brazil was hit by record-breaking rainfall in late April. The floods were caused by more than a week of heavy rain. The floods killed about 200 people. 1.45 million people were affected by the floods. 200,000 people were forced to evacuate. According to data from the Brazilian Civil Defense Agency, 99,800 homes have been partially or completely destroyed by the floods and rains so far.

According to one estimate, the rains and floods caused economic losses of about 4.6 billion reais, and there was also significant damage to homes and infrastructure.

China floods
In July 2024, floods in China’s Shaanxi province killed about a dozen people when bridges on a highway collapsed. In the same month, Typhoon Gemi swept through northern Taiwan and caused flooding before crossing the sea to China.

Polluted Yamuna
In October, Delhi’s Yamuna River was covered in a thick layer of white toxic foam. Experts said that this could cause health problems for people. The problem has been increasing every year and the situation in 2024 was no different. Officials said that the main reason for the formation of these thick layers of foam was the sewage flowing into the river. They also said that this pollution is very harmful to human life.

Japan Earthquake
2024 started disastrously as a 7.7 magnitude earthquake struck Noto, the northern peninsula of Japan, on January 1. In which more than 200 people died. According to the Japan Times newspaper, RRR actor Junior NTR was in Japan at the time and after returning to India, he expressed his sadness that the earthquake had hit Japan at the same time.

Fire in Chile
A large forest fire in central Chile in February killed more than 130 people. According to a Reuters report, Chile, Argentina and other parts of the Southern Cone of South America have been experiencing severe heat.

The extreme weather in Chile is also said to be exacerbated by the El Niño climate phenomenon.