The World Problems Index

Disaster

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Kumamoto, JapanDisasterNews-derivedlow confidence

Kumamoto Earthquake

A magnitude-7.1 earthquake in Japan's Kumamoto region reportedly killed at least 13 people and forced more than 9,000 residents to evacuate.

Severity score

13.5

Limited · default weighting

Trajectory

Steady

What this is

A magnitude-7.1 earthquake struck Japan's Kumamoto region, destroying homes and reportedly killing at least 13 people. More than 9,000 residents were evacuated.

The available headline does not give a supported estimate of total people affected or economic damage.

Score breakdown

Loss of life

6

Direct and attributable mortality, normalised across annual and cumulative tolls.

Lives negatively impacted

13

People displaced, injured, food-insecure, exposed or otherwise materially harmed.

Financial cost

18

Direct damage, lost output and health-system spend attributable to the event.

Environmental impact

8

Emissions, habitat and biodiversity loss, contamination and irreversibility.

Trajectory

36

Whether the situation is escalating, and how much worse it is plausibly getting.

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