What we’re watching: Weekly disaster update, October 7

We know all too well that disaster can strike anytime, anywhere in the world. Some disasters make headlines; others do not. Here at the Center for Disaster Philanthropy (CDP), we monitor the status of disasters worldwide and compile a list of the ones we’re tracking weekly, along with relevant disaster-related media coverage.

Here’s what we’re watching for the week of Oct. 7, 2024.

New or Emerging Disasters

Hurricane Milton – Florida: Hurricane Milton rapidly strengthened into a Category 5 storm in the Gulf of Mexico on Oct. 7. It is expected to make landfall in Florida as a major hurricane on Oct. 9. The threat of destructive winds, major storm surges of 8-12 feet and massive flooding have prompted evacuation orders in much of the state.

The Tampa Bay area has not seen a storm like this in over a century. Hurricane Milton is expected to compound the devastation in Florida, which is still reeling from Hurricane Helene’s effects, turning debris from Helene’s destruction into projectiles.

Typhoon – Philippines and Taiwan: Typhoon Krathon made landfall in the Philippines and Taiwan, causing damage to homes and physical injuries. Krathon hit the Philippines on Sept. 29 and 30, affecting 219,000 people. There were three deaths, one injury and one person was missing.

Krathon struck the west coast of Taiwan on Oct. 3 with wind gusts of 100 mph after previously hitting the island’s eastern side. At least 17 inches of rain hit Kaohsiung even before landfall, and more than four feet fell in the coastal Taitung county over four days.

Krathon left 100,000 households in the port city of Kaohsiung and nearby Pingtung County without power and 129,000 households in Kaohsiung without water. At least 667 people were injured, two people remain missing and two people have been killed. In addition, nine people were killed in a fire at a hospital in Pingtung County as the storm passed through, but it is not clear whether it is connected.

It is rare for a typhoon to hit the west side of Taiwan; most cyclones make landfall on the eastern side of the island.

Floods – Multiple Countries: Flooding occurred in many countries during the first week of October, including:

• Panama – Beginning Sept. 30, very heavy rainfall flooded parts of Panama, affecting at least 500 people and resulting in three fatalities as well as a collapsed bridge.
• Vietnam – Heavy rain fell over Ha Giang province in Northern Vietnam beginning Sept. 28. According to the ASEAN Disaster Information Network, as of Sept. 30, “three people have died, three are still missing, and nine people have been injured by floods and landslides … At least 556 people and 139 houses have been affected and at least two roads have been blocked by landslides.”
• Thailand – Heavy seasonal rains combined with the effects of Typhoon Yagi have caused severe flooding in Chiang Mai, a city in northern Thailand. People in the area have been forced to seek higher ground, and the 3,000 rescue animals of the nearby sanctuary, Elephant Nature Park, are also evacuating.
• Bosnia-Herzegovina – Flash floods overnight Oct. 4 reduced houses to rubble and landslides buried homes to the roof. At least 18 people have been killed, and at least 10 people are still missing in the worst floods Bosnia-Herzegovina has seen in 10 years. Roads, railway tracks and bridges have been destroyed. Most of the damage is in the Jablanica region (about 40 miles southwest of Sarajevo). Additional rain has hampered rescue efforts by the many international teams who flew in to assist.

Previous/Ongoing Disasters

United States – Hurricane Helene: According to Duke Energy, at least 105,000 power outages in North Carolina will be lengthy because the infrastructure is destroyed.

Helene caused the third-highest number of deaths from a hurricane in the U.S. since 2000, behind Hurricane Maria in 2017 and Hurricane Katrina in 2005. The death toll from Helene sits at 232 as of Oct. 6.

“AccuWeather has increased its estimate of the total damage and economic loss from Hurricane Helene to $145 billion to $160 billion.”

• For more information, see CDP’s 2024 Atlantic Hurricane Season disaster profile.
• CDP hosted a webinar on Oct. 3: Hurricane Helene: How funders can support recovery. Watch the recording.

Nepal – Floods: As of Oct. 1, the death toll from Nepal’s flooding and landslides between Sept. 27 to 29, stood at 224 people, with 24 people missing and 158 injured. Many of the 7,600 families affected lived in informal settlements that were washed away by the river and flood water. Experts said this included deforestation, rapid growth leading to disorganized urban planning and development, paving over agricultural land and an outdated drainage system are also responsible for the damage near the river.

For more information, see CDP’s 2024 South Asia Floods disaster profile.

Greece – Wildfires: A wildfire near Corinth, about 87 miles west of Athens, that began on Sept. 29 was under control as of Oct. 3. Two men were killed near Elliniko village as they tried to help fight the fires. Two firefighters were injured, and six villages were evacuated. Over the past few months, Greece has dealt with over 4,500 fires in a season of protracted drought and unusual heat. The Corinth fire was the biggest fire of the season at more than 160,000 acres.

Brazil – Wildfires: Ongoing fires in the Amazon and the Brazilian Pantanal, the world’s largest tropical wetland, have destroyed more than 7,000 square miles in 2024, an area the size of New Jersey. This year, the South American continent has registered over 346,000 fires, 76% of which are in Brazil.  

For more information, see CDP’s 2024 Brazil Wildfires disaster profile. 

Flooding – West and Central Africa: According to The Punch, “The World Health Organization estimated that the Borno State flood recently displaced more than 225,000 people with 201 deaths reported in 15 of the country’s 36 states.”

On Oct. 4, additional floods hit Ondo town in Ondo State, when eight hours of heavy rain, came on the tail of three days of ongoing rainfall. Some communities were evacuated. Flooding occurred from Oct. 4 to 6 in several communities in Plateau State. At least 80 homes were destroyed in the latter floods.

For more information, see CDP’s 2024 West and Central Africa Floods disaster profile. 

In addition to the disasters listed above, we actively monitor the following disasters or humanitarian emergencies. For more information, see the relevant disaster profiles, which are updated regularly.

• 2024 North American Wildfires
• 2024 Central and Eastern Europe Floods
• Sudan Humanitarian Crisis
• Afghanistan’s Humanitarian Crisis

Complex Humanitarian Emergencies – The Sahel Region 

Many places worldwide are experiencing emergencies caused by conflict, climate change, drought, famine, economic challenges and other conditions that combine to create a complex humanitarian emergency (CHE). CDP maintains complete profiles on several CHEs, and what CDP considers Level 1 CHEs are profiled in this weekly blog post and tracked.

The eight countries that comprise The Sahel Region – Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Chad, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Nigeria and Senegal – were described by Martin Griffiths, the former Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator for the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, as an area “of extraordinary cultural richness, huge diversity, and vast socioeconomic drive and potential. Yet over the past few years, it has been assailed by an overwhelming series of challenges: a complex web of interconnected crises, marked by persistent political and social instability, a deteriorating security situation, and the inexorable creep of climate change.”

Five of these countries – Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Mali, Niger and Chad – made the Norwegian Refugee Council’s 2023 list of the world’s 10 most neglected crises. Four of these countries were in the top five, and Burkina Faso was listed first for the second consecutive year.

The core countries of the Sahel region facing the brunt of the current humanitarian crisis include Burkina Faso, Niger and Mali. This area continues to be rocked by interconnected political, social and climate instability and is considered the global epicenter of terrorist violence, led by military jihadist juntas.

While these countries face their own challenges, the violence impacts other countries, too. For example, at the end of September 2024, UNHCR said, “Since the end of October 2023, there has been a massive influx of refugees and asylum seekers from Burkina Faso, mainly from the Sahel region. They are fleeing because of fear, insecurity and the effects of attacks and incursions by radical non-state armed groups, as well as military operations, including airstrikes by national forces (FDS) on the positions of armed groups. As of September 2024, 82,125 burkinabe refugees are registered (of these, 47,568 have been registered since the beginning of the year) and 50,972 are unregistered in Mali.”

In August, UNICEF said: “In the last three months of 2023, grave violations against children in Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger increased by more than 70 per cent compared to the previous three months. In the first three months of 2024, nearly 1,400 people were reportedly killed in violent incidents, 66 per cent higher than the same quarter last year. Three million people, mostly women and children, have been displaced, due to insecurity, both internally and across borders. Insecurity and violence is also impacting essential services, with approximately 470 health facilities out of operation.”

In 2024, six of the eight countries developed Humanitarian Response Plans totaling $4.7 billion to support 21 million people.

As of Oct. 6, 2024, the following amounts have been raised towards these Humanitarian Response Plans:  

• Burkina Faso: $365.1 million (39.1%) of the $389.2 million goal
• Cameroon: $136.1 million (36.6%) of the $371.4 million goal
• Chad: $484.9 million (43.1%) of the $1.124.6 billion goal
• Mali: $216.5 million (30.9%) of the $701.6 million goal
• Niger: $281.9 million (42.6%) of the $662.2 million goal
• Nigeria: $458.4 million (49.5%) of the $926.5 million goal

With just three months left in the year, only Nigeria comes close to breaking the 50% mark. Additionally, as mentioned above, several of these countries have been plagued by devastating floods this year.

Opportunities for philanthropy include supporting local organizations well-positioned to reach populations that larger organizations may struggle to access, strengthening resilience and reducing underlying vulnerabilities, and supporting livelihoods so people can provide for themselves and their families.  

What We’re Reading

• Angelina Jolie: In the world’s worst humanitarian crisis, acknowledge who’s actually helping – TIME: “On the Sudanese border a few days ago, I saw volunteers doing more with next to nothing than those who have the ability to make the biggest impact. Hafiz Issak Aroun, a Chadian doctor, had resigned his job at a hospital to set up a clinic in the border town of Adré, treating refugees for free. ‘We are all volunteers here,’ he said, ‘and we’re desperate for support to keep this going.’”
• Aid is dying: The time to #Shiftpower is now – Alliance Magazine: “The problem is widespread failure – not least in Gaza, Sudan and Ukraine. Much of this is due to the ‘humanitarian oligopoly’ of INGOs. As the main instrument of the aid system, they crowd out national and local actors that are better placed to respond to crises.”
• In a Florida town ravaged by storms, homeowners all want to sell – WSJ: “The Tampa Bay housing market had been softening even before Helene struck. While prices have been flat, the area experienced a 58% increase in supply in August compared with a year ago, and a 10% decrease in demand, according to Parcl Labs, a real-estate data and analytics firm.”
• Helene is the 2^nd–deadliest hurricane in 50 years, could cost $250 Billion – Accuweather: In this statistics round-up, a variety of interesting facts about Helene are presented. It is critical to note that the article refers only to mainland hurricanes. Hurricane Maria, which hit Puerto Rico in 2017, was the deadliest hurricane, followed by Katrina in 2005.
• The shifting jet stream has magnified wildfires and plagues: What’s next? – The Grist: “The jet stream’s whims can lead to what the study calls cascading effects. For example, bad harvests can lead to malnutrition, which can compromise people’s immune systems, making epidemics worse. And when people are sick, they can’t work as much in the fields, limiting harvests further. The study points to what happened in Russia in 2010, when a “blocking” pattern in the jet stream — which deflects oncoming weather — caused a prolonged heat wave, exacerbating wildfires and leading to the death of an estimated 55,000 people. In the aftermath, the country’s wheat production plummeted by 25 percent.”

A moment of hope… A housing development in Florida proves that climate designs work. Hunter Point in Cortez survived Helene, Ian and Idalia.