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1
Bangladesh Cyclones
The sheer population density of Bangladesh — 2,639 people per square mile — guarantees that any natural disaster in that South Asian nation will take a severe human toll. When Cyclone Sidr struck southern Bangladesh on Nov. 15, it was no different. Packing winds of over 100 mph, the storm took out power lines and trees, and pulverized mud-and-thatch homes. The death toll was over 1,000, with more than half a million people forced to flee their homes. But by Bangladesh's sad standards, Sidr was nothing — a cyclone in 1991 killed an astounding 140,000 people.
2
Southeast U.S. Droughts
Water experts like to call drought the Rodney Dangerfield of natural disasters: It gets no respect. But the long dry that gripped much of the American Southeast this year is making everyone take notice. Normally verdant, Georgia and several neighboring states are suffering through their worst dry spell in recorded history. At one point the city of Atlanta, one of the fastest-growing metro areas in the U.S., had just three months of water left. As the drought worsened, it triggered a nasty legal fight between Florida, Georgia and Alabama over declining water supplies. The chief legacy of the 2007 drought will be this: It could well be water, not energy or oil, which finally constrains American growth.
3
Mexico Floods
A natural disaster in a rich country like the United States can be an inconvenience. In an impoverished nation like Mexico, it is a human catastrophe. Massive floods that struck the southern Mexican states of Tabasco and Chiapas in late October and November left vast stretches of land completely submerged — an estimated 80% of Tabasco was under water at one point, and as many as one million residents were affected by the floods. Mexican President Felipe Calderon put it simply: "This is one of the worst natural disasters in the history of the country."
4
Hurricane Felix
The U.S. got off lightly in the hurricane season of 2007, but not every country was so lucky. A Category 5 storm — the highest possible rating — Hurricane Felix slammed into Nicaragua on Sept.4 with winds that ranged up to 160 mph. The storm also hit Honduras and grazed the Caribbean islands. Altogether Felix killed 101 people, and pulverized the impoverished coastal communities of Nicaragua. One bright side — the storm hit heavily forested areas, which blunted the force of the winds.
5
Indonesian Mud Volcano
It wasn't exactly an act of God — the blame should go to a poorly run natural gas drilling project — but the out-of-control mud flows near the Indonesian city of Surabaya certainly resembled something out of a disaster movie. The problem started in late May, when hot mud broke into a well that had been drilled without proper protective casing. When the company tried to stop up the mud with cement plugs, it eventually flowed to the surface and burst through the ground in a series of foul geysers. By October the mud was flowing at rate of about 170,000 cubic feet a day, utterly submerging neighboring villages and factories, and leaving over 10,000 people homeless.
6
South Asia Floods
Subject to the monsoon rains, home to billions, South Asia is forever teetering between too little water and too much of it. This summer it was the latter. A series of abnormal monsoon rains in northern India, Nepal, Bhutan and Bangladesh in July and August eventually led to what UNICEF called "the worst flood in living memory." By mid-August some 30 million people across the region had been displaced, and more than 2,000 would die in the floods. Damages were estimated to be at least $120 million, which was less a measure of the severity of the floods than the utter poverty of affected areas.
7
North Korea Floods
Life in North Korea is one long, man-made disaster, and the full magnitude of human suffering that goes on north of the DMZ may never be known. But the world received a glimpse of the precarious state of the hermit kingdom in August, when wide-scale flooding afflicted the southern part of the country. Details are patchwork, but more than 400 people were believed killed, and the damage was extensive enough that the Mass Games, Pyongyang's yearly and freaky athletic showcase, were postponed. Even worse than the immediate damage was the destruction wrought on the starving country's farmland — the World Food Programme estimated that 450,000 tons of grain production was lost.
8
Earthquake in Peru
2007 was a light year for earthquakes, but not in Peru. An 8.0 magnitude temblor hit the central coast of the South American nation on Aug. 15, leaving more than 500 people dead and 1,366 injured, and more than 50,000 homes destroyed. Much of the worst damage occurred in the city of Pisco, which was 80% destroyed. As many as 430 people died, including over 100 who were killed when a cathedral they were praying in collapsed.
9
Greece Forest Fires
This was the summer that Greece burned. Through June, July and August, vicious heat waves, with temperatures exceeding 105°F, and lengthy droughts turned the country into a tinderbox. The worst fires occurred in August, when a series of sudden firestorms in Peloponnese, Attica and Euboea left nearly 70 people dead. Residents in Olympia, site of the ancient Olympics, had to be evacuated, along with citizens throughout the south of the country. Altogether the infernos burned nearly half a million acres.
10
China Floods
Floods used to be a regular and catastrophic fact of life in wet southern China, where the mighty Yangtze River regularly burst its bounds in the spring. Anti-flood preparations and economic growth have helped limit the worst damage in recent years, but water won't be denied. This June days of drenching rain led to floods and landslides throughout southern China, including the prosperous manufacturing province of Guangdong. More than 60 people were killed and half a million were forced to flee their homes; economic damage was estimated at nearly $400 million.
[source: https://www.time.com/time/specials/2007/top10/article/0,30583,1686204_1686252_1690260,00.html ]
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