[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"question:80:en-US":3},{"metadata":4,"sys":15,"fields":35},{"tags":5,"concepts":14},[6,11],{"sys":7},{"type":8,"linkType":9,"id":10},"Link","Tag","global",{"sys":12},{"type":8,"linkType":9,"id":13},"sustainableCities",[],{"space":16,"id":20,"type":21,"createdAt":22,"updatedAt":23,"environment":24,"publishedVersion":28,"revision":29,"contentType":30,"locale":34},{"sys":17},{"type":8,"linkType":18,"id":19},"Space","ghhpjogyw4x7","eac26544e925d2d139a10ddacf88b1ae","Entry","2021-11-11T07:10:24.767Z","2025-10-30T08:36:38.847Z",{"sys":25},{"id":26,"type":8,"linkType":27},"master","Environment",85,19,{"sys":31},{"type":8,"linkType":32,"id":33},"ContentType","question","en-US",{"globalId":36,"answers":37,"answersAsImages":57,"wrongPercentage":96,"name":97,"questionText":98,"statistics":99,"veryWrongStatistics":101,"correctSentence":103,"youWereWrong":104,"youWereRight":105,"dataSourceShortText":106,"dataSourceLinkLongText":107,"extendedAnswerText":108,"headingVeryWrong":109,"youWereVeryWrong":104,"headingWrong":109},"80",[38,60,79],{"metadata":39,"sys":42,"fields":55},{"tags":40,"concepts":41},[],[],{"space":43,"id":45,"type":21,"createdAt":46,"updatedAt":47,"environment":48,"publishedVersion":50,"revision":51,"contentType":52,"locale":34},{"sys":44},{"type":8,"linkType":18,"id":19},"b36aeada5aa30842a52fb17f3ff904df","2021-11-11T06:55:53.176Z","2024-01-22T13:05:11.548Z",{"sys":49},{"id":26,"type":8,"linkType":27},14,10,{"sys":53},{"type":8,"linkType":32,"id":54},"answer",{"globalId":56,"correctAnswer":57,"isVeryWrong":58,"answerText":59},"80-a1",false,true,"Roughly the same ",{"metadata":61,"sys":64,"fields":76},{"tags":62,"concepts":63},[],[],{"space":65,"id":67,"type":21,"createdAt":68,"updatedAt":69,"environment":70,"publishedVersion":72,"revision":73,"contentType":74,"locale":34},{"sys":66},{"type":8,"linkType":18,"id":19},"f238c7656b1c64337a8b6705e544a15a","2021-11-11T06:55:54.762Z","2024-11-18T13:09:08.386Z",{"sys":71},{"id":26,"type":8,"linkType":27},16,11,{"sys":75},{"type":8,"linkType":32,"id":54},{"globalId":77,"correctAnswer":57,"isVeryWrong":57,"answerText":78},"80-a2","4 times more",{"metadata":80,"sys":83,"fields":93},{"tags":81,"concepts":82},[],[],{"space":84,"id":86,"type":21,"createdAt":87,"updatedAt":88,"environment":89,"publishedVersion":72,"revision":73,"contentType":91,"locale":34},{"sys":85},{"type":8,"linkType":18,"id":19},"8ea65e4ca30de0a783626dbd302245da","2021-11-11T06:55:56.399Z","2024-11-18T13:09:01.104Z",{"sys":90},{"id":26,"type":8,"linkType":27},{"sys":92},{"type":8,"linkType":32,"id":54},{"globalId":94,"correctAnswer":58,"isVeryWrong":57,"answerText":95},"80-a3","40 times more",75,"Homeless from natural disasters","Since 1990, roughly 2.5 million people were made temporarily homeless in Europe due to natural disasters. The number for Asia during the same period was...",[100],"uk 0.75",[102],"uk 0.13","Since 1990, 40 times more people in Asia were made temporarily homeless due to natural disasters than in Europe.","There are many more people in Asia, and around a quarter of a billion of them live in extreme poverty, in homes unable to withstand severe weather events.","They don’t realize how many more people live in Asia than Europe and how much harder disasters hit low- and middle-income countries.","Source: EM-DAT, International Disaster Database","There is some disagreement as to what constitutes a natural disaster which can make estimates vary between countries and regions. Similar issues also apply to historical data where what was known about the disasters impose limitations. \n\nConflict is another factor that can affect the number of people made homeless but they’re not always included in these disaster estimates. Homeless in the context of our question refers to the number of people whose house is destroyed or heavily damaged and therefore need shelter after an event. It can be difficult to estimate how many are made homeless by an event, i.e. who were homeless prior to a disaster and what is still considered a home afterwards may affect the numbers.\n\nThe economic and infrastructure impact from these disasters might not be the same between Europe and Asia. Within Asia there are big regional differences in how the disasters have impacted societies. Unsurprisingly, countries at a higher income level are often more resilient when hit by disasters.\n\nOne of the biggest disasters that left people in Europe temporarily homeless, was the 1997 Central European flood that impacted mostly Poland and Czech Republic and where 62 000 people were left homeless. In Asia, meanwhile, severe floods at times left millions of people homeless, for instance during the 1998 China floods, where 15 million people were left homeless in the Hubei province in China by extreme floods caused by prolonged heavy rains.\n\nOne important clarification when it comes to these figures is: The 41 times more answer is if Türkiye is included in Europe's figures. If it is not, then Asia has more than 70 times more homeless. That is because Türkiye accounts for 1.1 million homeless.\n\nDespite the limitations of the database, four independent experts we consulted for this question say they regarded EM-DAT as a reliable source and there was no doubt that more people in Asia are impacted by natural disasters.\n\n[1]  [EM-DAT, International Disaster Database - Gapminder spreadsheet showing data calculations](https:\u002F\u002Fdocs.google.com\u002Fspreadsheets\u002Fd\u002F13aoSomvIDR3GtLSrrg5Rguuj4dy0ADrXyy9wV7LmCdo\u002Fedit?gid=0#gid=0)   \n","There are three main reasons why there are 40 times more victims of disasters in Asia than in Europe: Asia has more natural disasters; there are more people in Asia; more Asians live in poor communities which are less prepared for disasters.\n\nHumanity cannot stop extreme events like hurricanes, floods, droughts, heatwaves and earthquakes. What we can do is be better prepared for these events. Across the world, more people are better prepared than ever before. We build better buildings, roads and infrastructure that are more capable of withstanding extreme events. There has also been lots of progress in predicting where disasters will hit, and to communicate emergencies to people so they have time to evacuate. Even the poorest communities survive in greater numbers than they did in the past. But still, the richer a country is, the more it can afford to spend on disaster preparation. And Asia still has several very poor countries where many become victims when a disaster hits.\n\n### Why is it a problem that people are wrong about this?\nWhen we talk about where resources should be used, it is important that we know the facts about where the biggest need is.\n\n### Why are people wrong about this?\nWhen we hear about regions like Europe and Asia, they sound like they are comparable in size. But Asia's population (4.7 billion) is much bigger than Europe’s (0.9 billion). \n\n### Can I trust the data?\nYes, but there are some things to keep in mind. There is some disagreement as to what constitutes a natural disaster, which can make estimates vary between countries and regions. Similar issues also apply to historical data where what was known about the disasters impose limitations. Despite the limitations of the database, four independent experts we consulted for this question say they regarded EM-DAT as a reliable source and there was no doubt that more people in Asia are impacted by natural disasters.\n\n### Find out more\nYou can see a breakdown of the types and numbers of disasters in Europe and Asia in [this spreadsheet](https:\u002F\u002Fdocs.google.com\u002Fspreadsheets\u002Fd\u002F13aoSomvIDR3GtLSrrg5Rguuj4dy0ADrXyy9wV7LmCdo\u002Fedit?gid=1850392817#gid=1850392817) \n\n[This graph](https:\u002F\u002Fwww.gapminder.org\u002Ftools\u002F#$ui$chart$endBeforeForecast=2020;;&model$markers$bubble$encoding$y$data$concept=hmless_nd&source=fasttrack&space@=country&=time;;&scale$domain:null&zoomed:null&type:null;;&frame$value=2020;;;;;&chart-type=bubbles&url=v1) shows the number of victims to natural disasters by country and year.\n\nSee homes on different income levels in Asia and Europe in  [Dollar Street](https:\u002F\u002Fwww.gapminder.org\u002Fdollar-street\u002F?regions=as%2Ceu)\n\n[This family](https:\u002F\u002Fwww.gapminder.org\u002Fdollar-street\u002Ffamilies\u002Fparamanik-01) lives in Bangladesh in a home vulnerable to floods. [Here you can see another family](https:\u002F\u002Fwww.gapminder.org\u002Fdollar-street\u002Ffamilies\u002Fdevi) living in Nepal and their house gets flooded during the rainy season. [This family](https:\u002F\u002Fwww.gapminder.org\u002Fdollar-street\u002Ffamilies\u002Fmacho) lives in Myanmar and flooding is a particular problem for them. \n","Five times more live in Asia!"]