Abstract
In recent years water-related disasters are increasing and so are sediment-related disasters. A global outlook of sediment-related disaster is highlighted in this paper to delineate the status and trends in the bigger picture of water-related disasters. This provides background information for policymakers. The increasing trend of disasters is evident; slides (including landslide, debris-flow and other mass-movement) have increased more than four-fold in Asia from 1980 to 2006 accounting for 64% of global slide fatalities. On the other hand, fatalities of individual slide events from 1900 to 2009 show that Europe is most vulnerable but the events are most frequent in Asia followed by the Americas. In terms of slide affected people, Asia ranks worst followed by the Americas. The damage estimate shows that Europe incurs the greatest loss followed by the Americas. Expansion of cities into marginal areas to accommodate population explosion, pressure on land due to improper land-use, deforestation and increasing slum population have lead to increased vulnerability to sediment-related disasters. This must be tackled through policy changes based on scientific knowledge.
