Since the beginning of the new millennium, the world has seen many natural disasters. We have witnessed cyclones, hurricanes, bushfires, volcanic eruptions, droughts and flooding. Two years ago we had the swine flu pandemic, and who could forget the many earthquakes all over the world that killed so many people. The death toll of the Boxing Day Tsunami of 2004 alone was reckoned to be in the region of 230,000, and three other devastating earthquakes in Iran, Pakistan and China between them claimed nearly 200,000 people. Furthermore, we are still counting the costs – fortunately mostly financial – of the recent Japanese earthquake and resultant tsunami.
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