As the Center for Research on the Epidemiology of Disasters (CRED) released their data on the economic damage caused by significant floods worldwide as of June 2013, it stands clear that floods continue to top the list of economic losses related to natural disasters.
According to this data, the flood of August 5, 2011 in Thailand was by far the most economically damaging flood between 1900 and 2013, causing roughly 40 billion U.S. dollars of damage.
River and coastal flooding are the most frequently occurring natural disaster and are increasing in occurrence more rapidly than any other natural disaster.
Analysis made by the World Bank shows that flooding is not only the most frequent natural disaster – it is also the disaster with the greatest economic and humanitarian impact in terms of number of people affected and in terms of economic asset exposure; that is buildings, transport infrastructure, utility infrastructure and other long-lived assets.
