Natural Disasters

Natural disasters are a devastating cause of homelessness that cannot be prevented. Over the past 20 years, there have been 141 million people affected by 3,559 natural disasters. The different types of disasters that caused this global problem are earthquakes, floods, tornadoes, hurricanes, landslides, windstorms and many more. As of 2000, an overwhelming 68.3% of all natural disaster caused homelessness was achieved by floods.

In 2003, Indonesia was hit by heavy rains that flooded the country, which left thousands homeless. The town that was hardest hit had “34,000 houses, 300 schools, 90 bridges, 110 mosques, 70 health centers, and 245 orange plantations” flooded. This disaster was caused by 28 days of continuous rainfall which caused several hundreds of thousands to flee their homes into safety.

On August 1, 2003, another rain caused disaster has hit Papua New Guinea causing thousands to become homeless. The torrential rains transformed the dirt into mud which initiated a massive landslide. Many homes and roads were destroyed and three of their bridges were swept away. A church, crops and domestic animals were also destroyed.

After a natural disaster occurs, many are left homeless. It is extremely difficult for families that are assaulted to rebuild because of the amount of damage dealt so they would have to deal with further suffering.

http://siteresources.worldbank.org/INTDISMGMT/Resources/housing.pdf