Millions Need Care in Crises

Every year natural disasters such as earthquakes, floods, and tsunamis cost many millions of people their homes, property, means of making a living, and even their lives. Armed conflicts kill or displace millions more.1

Conflicts displace more than 40 million.
The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) estimates that, as of January 1, 2005, there were more than 19 million people “of concern to the UNHCR,” including over 9 million refugees, who had left their countries, and more than 9 million internally displaced persons, asylum seekers, returned refugees, and others (97) (see Table 1). Including Palestinian refugees and many internally displaced persons not formally categorized as “of concern to the UNHCR,” the estimated number of people dislocated by civil conflicts rises to more than 40 million (25, 86, 95) (see Table 2).

Table 1. Persons of Concern to the UNHCR, January 1, 2005, by Region and by Status
Region	Population of Concern		Status	Population of Concern
Africa Asia Europe Latin America & Caribbean North America Oceania	4,861,000 6,900,000 4,430,000 2,071,000 853,000 82,000		Refugees Asylum seekers Returned refugees Internally displaced persons Others	9,237,000 839,000 1,495,000 5,426,000 2,201,000
Total	19,197,000		Total	19,197,000
Note: Totals may not equal sum due to rounding Source: United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees 2005 (101)

Many of these people have been displaced for years. UNHCR estimated that, as of January 1, 2004, in developing countries there were 38 “protracted situations”–that is, crises involving 25,000 or more people in exile for five years or more (99).

Table 2. Estimates of Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs), by Region, January 1, 2005
Region	IDPs
Africa Near East Asia and the Pacific Europe Americas	13,200,000 2,100,000 3,300,000 3,000,000 3,700,000
Total	25,300,000
Source: Global IDP Project 2005 (25)

Table 3. Natural Disasters and People Affected, January 2004 to September 2005
Type of Disaster	Events	People Affected
Earthquakes Wind storms Floods Volcanic eruptions Tsunamis and tidal waves Other	43 197 256 8 13 757	892,000 56,415,000 164,338,000 132,000 1,357,000 16,523,000
Total	1,274	239,657,000
Source: Center for Research on the Epidemiology of Disasters 2005 (15)

Natural disasters affect 200 million in 20 months.
From January 2004 to September 2005, natural disasters displaced, injured, or killed nearly 240 million people (see Table 3). The December 2004 tsunami alone devastated communities in 12 Asian countries and killed more than 225,000 people. Floods affected more than 33 million people in China, India, and Bangladesh during the period (15).

1) The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) provides estimates of the numbers of refugees and others displaced by conflict situations. Although no single institution has a similar role for natural disasters, the Centre for Research on the Epidemiology of Disasters (CRED) publishes data on victims of disasters obtained from a wide variety of sources (14). Data on the number of refugees are usually given in terms of prevalence–that is, the number as of a given date (often January 1st). Data on the number of victims of natural disasters are usually given in terms of incidence–that is, the total number affected in a given period, usually one year.

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