4. Japan
World risk index: 12.99%
Rank: 17
We’ve reached top five countries from the list of top 10 natural disaster prone countries with the worst, most costly disasters in the world and the numbers of casualties and financial damage are only going to rise. Personally, I believe that it is a miracle how some of these countries manage to recover after such devastating hazards. Japan is in constant danger of earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, and mudslides. Six years ago Japan was hit by one of the worst natural disasters in the world. First, a magnitude-9 earthquake shook northeastern Japan, creating the enormous tsunami. Millions of people were affected and direct damage from the disaster was estimated to be $199 billion and total economic cost up to $235 billion. There are even some estimates that tsunami damage cost was around $300 billion. This was the most costly disaster in the world. The tsunami caused a cooling system failure at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Plant which caused level 7 nuclear meltdown. Consequences are visible even today when thousands are still living in temporary homes as they lost their homes when the tsunami wiped out thousands of buildings. It is interesting that Japan is the only developed country with a disaster risk higher than 10%.
Pixabay/Public Domain
