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Diane Sugrue, Dorian True, William Wagers
14th Oct 2011
CES 102-20
Comparing the Damage of Various Natural Disasters
ABSTRACT
The topic chosen is to compare the damage caused by tornados with that of other natural
disasters. The natural disasters compared to a tornado include the following: floods, hurricanes, and
earthquakes. Specific examples are cited for each of the natural disasters. Using tables and charts help
determine which natural disaster is more detrimental to the environment and to civilization. After
comparing the three different natural disasters to tornados, it is determined that hurricanes not only cause
more damage, but they also are responsible for more deaths.
INTRODUCTION
Due to the recent outbreak of tornados in Alabama, there has been a growing interest in natural
disasters. The specific interest was in the damage caused by different natural disasters and how they
compare to tornados. According to weather.com, a tornado is “a violently rotating column of air
extending between, and in contact with, a cloud and the surface of the earth.” Wind speeds often surpass
100 mph and can reach up to 300 mph. Each year America experiences almost 1000 tornados that cause
roughly 460 million dollars in damages. On average, they are also responsible for 142 deaths per
year.During April of this year, a variety of tornados devastated many southeastern states including
Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Arkansas, Tennessee, Georgia, and Virginia. This resulted in well over
350 deaths in over seven states. That is the most deaths caused by a single outbreak of tornados since
1925 when 747 people lost their lives. The city of Tuscaloosa, Alabama took more damage than any other
city. The city has a population of 80,000 people and is home to The University of Alabama. On
Wednesday, April 27th, an F5 tornado, the most powerful type of tornado, tore its way through the entire
city, leaving 310 dead and many more injured – no one was unaffected. The city was devastated, with
many of its citizens losing power and access to other commodities. The damages from that day cost 10
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billion dollars in damage. The devastation from that one tornado surpassed the yearly average for deaths
and monetary damages of all tornados. This report compares the damages caused by tornados to other
natural disasters.
DESCRIPTION OF OTHER NATURAL DISASTORS AND DATA
Table 1. Statistics for Record Setting Natural Disasters
Damage (USD) lives lost Magnitude/Flood Level/Category
Alabama Tornado 10 billion 310 F5
Haitian Earthquake 8-14 Billion 316,000 7.0 Magnitude
Hurricane Katrina 81 billion 1836 Category 5
Yellow River Flood Inestimadble 4 million Record Flood Level
The first natural disaster to compare is the one that is most similar to a tornado, a hurricane. There
is a common misconception that a hurricane is just a big tornado. This could not be further from the truth.
Hurricanes are, according to come.ucar.edu, “intense, rotating oceanic weather system that possesses
maximum sustained winds exceeding 74 mph.” They also are 300 miles in diameter on average. The
specific example we will use is one that is close to every American’s heart, Hurricane Katrina. The
hurricane made landfall on August 29, 2005 in the Gulf Coast. The eye of the storm passed within 10
miles of New Orleans. The storm devastated the entire city and left nearly 80% of the city flooded. Most
of the city was evacuated, which left many small business owners devastated. New Orleans’ economy
took a huge blow. Most of the businesses there were evacuated and the buildings themselves took serious
irreparable damage. On average, hurricanes cause much more damage than any other natural disaster.
This can be attributed to their sheer size. Hurricanes are massive and are capable of effecting much larger
areas than a tornado or an earthquake. The next natural disaster this report will assess is an earthquake.
An earthquake is an abrupt trembling of the ground that occurs due to the movement and breaking apart
of tectonic plates. Almost every earthquake occurs somewhere near the fault lines where the tectonic
plates collide with one another. Every year in America there are about 3700 earthquakes, which cause
more than 4 billion dollars in damage and take around 7 lives. The specific earthquake this report will
discuss is the one that happened in Haiti. The earthquake that hit Haiti in 2010 was responsible for taking
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the live of more than 316,000 people. The estimations for the amount of damage caused vary, but the best
estimates range from 8 to 14 billion dollars. The quake devastated the country of Haiti and many of the
islands near Haiti. The natural disaster that hit Haiti was one of the worst in recent history. The next and
final natural disaster that will be assessed is floods. A flood occurs when any body of water receives a
massive increase in water and overflows into the environment. The most common type of flood is a flash
flood. These often occur in minutes and only last for a short period of time. One of the worst floods in
history occurred 80 years ago. The yellow river flood in China has been estimated by some to have taken
over 4 million lives, making it the worst natural disaster, in terms of death count, ever recorded.
Table 2. Statistics for an Average Natural Disaster
What is compared is the damage caused by tornadoes with other severe weather and natural
disasters by analyzing three different categories: The magnitude/intensity of the event, the damage
(measured in US dollars), and the amount of lives lost. For our specific events, the Alabama tornado had
economic damage of $10 billion, 310 lives lost, and it was an F5 tornado. The Haitian earthquake had
damages of $8-14 billion, 316,000 lives lost, and had a 7.0 magnitude. Hurricane Katrina had damages of
$81 billion, killed 1836 people, and was a category 5 hurricane. Lastly was the Yellow River flood whose
amount of damage was unable to be measured, 4 million lives were lost, and had record-breaking flood
levels. The next things found were the average damage per year, average occurrence per year, average
magnitude per year, and average lives lost per year in the US for each type of natural disaster. The
average damage of tornadoes per year is $460 million, there is an average of 900 tornadoes a year, the
average category is an F2, and an average of 142 lives are lost because of tornadoes a year. Earthquakes
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cause $4.4 billion worth of damage per year, 3700 earthquakes happen on average per year, the average
magnitude is 2-2.9, and an average of 7 lives are lost because of earthquakes a year. The average damage
of hurricanes is $150 billion per year, there is an average of 3.5 hurricanes per year, the average category
of hurricanes is 2-3, and an average of 350 lives are lost per year to hurricanes. Lastly, floods average a
damage of $1.5 billion per year, an average of 2000 floods happen per year, the average flood level is
minor flood level, and an average of 127 lives are lost per year due to floods.
Table 3. Equations Used (example for Tornado column)
CONCLUSION
The assignment was to compare the damage caused by tornados to that caused by other natural
disasters. Table 1 shows statistics for some of the most devastating and infamous natural disasters ever
recorded, and Figure 2 shows the statistics for average natural disasters. Figure 3 shows the equations
that we used to see how much damage or death a natural disaster could cause if the average yearly
damage and death count could be spread out over an entire year. Figure 4 is a plot of how many deaths
each form of natural disaster causes per year. After comparing all of the data, it is obvious that tornados
in general are not as damaging as a hurricanes, earthquakes, or floods. However, they are deadlier than
either floods or earthquakes.
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350
Number of Deaths (N) [#] 300
250
Tornadoes
200
150 Earthquakes
100 Hurricanes
50 Floods
0
Type of Disastor (T)
Figure 4. Average Lives Lost per Year Due to Natural Disasters
Every year, thousands of natural disasters across the United States cause hundreds of deaths and billions
of dollars in damage. Earthquakes are the most frequent natural disaster, but are generally too weak to
have much of an effect. Hurricanes are by far the most damaging form of natural disaster – they cause the
most deaths and the most damage. This is due to the fact that hurricanes are much larger than the other
natural disasters, and they last longer as well. Tornadoes cause roughly the same amount of damage and
deaths as floods, but floods cause more damage per individual occurrence - $500,000 damage for a
standard tornado compared to $750,000 for a normal flood. However, an individual hurricane or an
individual earthquake both can cause more damage than either a flood or a tornado - $42 billion damage
for a hurricane and $1.2 million for an earthquake. An average tornado leads to an average of 0.15 deaths
per tornado (1 death per 7 tornados), but an average hurricane kills 100 people. An earthquake causes
0.00189 deaths per individual occurrence (1 death per 530 earthquakes) and an average flood causes
0.0635 deaths (1 death per 16 floods). This data shows that tornadoes are the fourth most damaging type
of natural disaster, but are the second most deadly natural disaster.
Sources
http://www.weather.com/ready/tornado/index.html
http://www.leftandrightnews.com/2011/04/30/alabama-footage-of-the-tornado-outbreak/
http://www.comet.ucar.edu/nsflab/web/hurricane/311.htm
http://www.bls.gov/opub/mlr/2007/06/art1exc.htm
