In the year 1800, only 10% of the global population lived in urban areas. By 2007, for the first time in history, more people lived in cities than in rural areas. And by the year 2050, more than two thirds of humankind will reside in urban environments. Each year, our planet becomes more and more urbanized—and each year, as the effects of climate change begin to make themselves known, natural disasters occur more and more frequently. According to research published by the World Meteorological Organization, the prevalence of weather-related disasters has quintupled over the last fifty years. As the threat of these disasters increases over time, so too does the risk of catastrophic damage and loss of life should the world’s constantly-expanding metropolises be struck by extreme weather conditions or seismic events.
Why Are Cities Especially Vulnerable to Natural Disasters?
There are several factors that make urban areas more vulnerable to natural disasters. In the days before airplanes and combustion engines, boats were generally the most effective way to transport goods and travelers. As such, most of the world’s largest cities are located in coastal areas or near other large bodies of water—making them susceptible to floods, tsunamis, hurricanes, and typhoons.
Because cities represent such a dense concentration of both people and resources, a natural disaster’s impact on an urban locale will be proportionally larger than if a disaster of a similar scale befell a less populous area. The population density of a city can also complicate evacuation processes as roadways and public transport become congested.
There are, of course, many different varieties of natural disasters, each of which poses unique complications when they land in an urban environment.
Hurricanes
One of the most devastating natural disasters in recent American history was Hurricane Katrina, a category 5 Atlantic tropical cyclone that devastated the city of New Orleans and the surrounding area in late August of 2005. Katrina resulted in 1,800 deaths and over $125 billion in damages, making it tied with Hurricane Harvey as the costliest natural disaster in United States history. Most of the fatalities directly caused by Katrina were drowning deaths: over 80% of the city was left underwater after the city’s levees were overwhelmed.
As a result of a poorly-managed government response and a breakdown in mass communication, those who were unable to evacuate before the storm remained stranded on rooftops in high-temperature conditions with little access to food, fresh water, or basic sanitation. In the days after the hurricane, less than twenty percent of the city’s residents remained in New Orleans. Though the city has rebounded significantly in the years since the hurricane, New Orleans’ population has never quite reached its pre-Katrina levels.
Earthquakes
The devastation caused in the Haitian capital of Port-Au-Prince by the 7.0 magnitude earthquake that struck Haiti in 2010 is still fresh in everyone’s memory. It is estimated that over 160,000 individuals lost their lives in this tragedy. In addition, many important municipal structures such as the Presidential Palace and Haitian Parliament building were destroyed, as well as countless businesses and residences.
Cities are at an increased risk for earthquake fatalities due to the concentration of multi-level buildings, which are more susceptible to collapse and have the potential to cause far more damage than the single-story structures found in rural areas. This issue was exacerbated in the case of the Port-Au-Prince earthquake by Haiti’s lack of a national building code, which meant that most of the country’s buildings were not appropriately reinforced to withstand seismic shocks.
Tsunamis
Following an earthquake, coastal cities must also contend with the possibility of a subsequent tsunami caused by water displaced by shifting undersea tectonic plates. In the aftermath of the 9.1 magnitude earthquake that rocked Japan in 2011, the island nation’s Pacific coast was battered by tsunami waves reaching heights of up to one hundred and thirty feet. Thousands of people were swept out to sea and thousands of homes were left flooded or entirely submerged. The total death toll from the Great Tōhoku Earthquake disaster is estimated to be approximately 18,500, with drowning victims from the tsunami constituting the vast majority of fatalities.
The Japanese city of Ishinomaki was hit particularly hard and lost more than 3,000 residents in the wake of the tsunami. While Japan’s strict building codes minimized the death toll from the earthquake, the city’s seawall was not tall enough to stop the waves. Perhaps more crucially, most citizens had not been trained how to respond to a tsunami, resulting in mass confusion and ineffective evacuation attempts. The destructive impact of the tsunami was greatly amplified by the fact that the majority of Japan’s large cities are located along its Pacific coast, making them especially susceptible to tsunamis and other severe weather conditions from the ocean.
Tornadoes
It’s a common misconception that tornadoes only touch down on flat, open plains and cannot impact built-up urban areas. This is, in fact, entirely false, as demonstrated by the EF3 tornado that ripped a path of destruction through several Chicago-area suburbs on the 20th and 21st of June last summer. The city of Naperville suffered extreme damage, with more than 230 homes destroyed. St. Louis also has an extensive history of tornado damage, including a 1967 EF4 tornado that caused the modern equivalent of $15 million in damages and a devastating 1896 tornado—the third-deadliest in U.S. history—that ravaged downtown St. Louis and resulted in at least 255 fatalities.
The simple fact that many city dwellers mistakenly believe themselves safe from tornadoes means that they are less likely to take tornado warnings seriously and take the necessary steps to shelter themselves until it is too late. The population density of urban areas also means that any tornado that touches down could have catastrophic consequences—in a model published by the Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society, researchers estimated that a “large and intense tornado crossing through residential portions of Chicago, Illinois” could result in 4,500-45,000 deaths and damage “400,000 homes occupied by over 1,100,000 people.”
How to Protect Yourself and Your Loved Ones?
Living in fear of natural disasters is not a productive use of anyone’s time. However, make sure to also take the step to protect your real estate assets such as purchasing insurance such as flood insurance. Continue to stay aware of your city’s evacuation and emergency response procedures and heed severe weather warnings, these actions may make all the difference in the event that a natural disaster befalls your city.
