A systematic analysis of worldwide disasters, epidemics and pandemics associated mortality of 210 countries for 15 years (2001-2015).

ABSTRACT

In recent years, the unprecedented death tolls resulting from epidemics and natural disasters made everyone interested, from the general public to country heads, to know about the mortality rates. The coronavirus issue is the most recent example all over the media, and everyone is talking about corona-induced mortality. The study aimed to estimate the disaster-induced mortality rates at the global level for two hundred and ten countries for fifteen years (2001-2015). Using a retrospective study design, we extracted datasets from two data sources, EM-DAT and UNFPA, in October 2019. The cut-off time for the data download was midnight Central European Time, October 17, 2019. The most noticeable finding in this study is that, against the common prevailing notion, both developed and developing countries equally carry the brunt of disaster-induced mortality. This study proposes empirical confirmation of the direction and magnitude of any year-over-year correlation of disaster and mortality rates. Furthermore, the analysis of the trend in mortality rate over the past fifteen years concludes it is not linear. However, there are huge variations across the years and the countries. The study is of paramount importance to initiate a debate amongst the concerned policymakers and stakeholders to regularly monitor the disaster-induced mortality rates. So that effective interventions can be devised to decrease the mortality rates.