Natural Disasters Displaced 42M in 2010

If it's felt like Mother Nature has been a little angrier lately, you're not imaging things. More than 42 million people around the world were forced to flee their homes because of natural disasters in 2010, more than double the number during the previous year. More than 90% of these disaster displacements were caused by weather-related hazards such as floods and storms, according to a report released today by the Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre. It says the number of reported natural disasters has doubled from around 200 to more than 400 a year over the past two decades.

Asia was the hardest hit region last year, with the largest number of displaced people seen in countries such as India, the Philippines, Bangladesh, Indonesia, China, and Pakistan. (More natural disaster stories.)