Abstract
Based on the recent research on definitions of catastrophes a disaster can be determined as a catastrophe if it conforms two or more than two standards among the following four standards: (1) Fatality exceeds 10,000; (2) Direct economic losses exceed 100 billion Yuan (about 10 billion Euros); (3) Affected area exceeds 100,000 km2; and (4) Return period of hazards exceeds 50 years. The sleet & snow disaster in southern China in 2008 affected 21 provinces (municipalities directly under the central government and autonomous regions), and it caused the urgent evacuation of 1,660,000 people. The direct economic losses were over 151.6 billion Yuan. The affected area was approximately 1,000,000 km2. The US Hurricane Katrina had a severe impact on four states, and it caused the emergent relocation of 770,000 people. The direct economic losses were over 100 billion dollars and the affected area was approximately 400,000 km2. Both of these events can be considered as catastrophes according to the definition.
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Notes
- 1.
1ft = 0.3048 m, similarly hereinafter.
- 2.
The early warnings for snow disasters are classified into four grades, i.e. the blue early warning, the yellow early warning, the orange early warning and the red early warning from the low to the high grade.
References
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© 2013 Beijing Normal University Press, Beijing and Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg
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Wang, M., Lu, L., Shi, P. (2013). Comparative Study on Sleet and Snow Disaster in Southern China and Hurricane Katrina Disater in USA. In: Shi, P., Jaeger, C., Ye, Q. (eds) Integrated Risk Governance. IHDP-Integrated Risk Governance Project Series. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-31641-8_11
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