Are hurricanes increasing in quantity and fury or do we just hear more about hurricanes since Smartphones started following us everywhere? Technically, there’s no trend. Hurricanes are not increasing, or decreasing, in any discernable pattern of intensity since we started officially tracking them in 1851.
However, earthquakes are getting more frequent and there has been about a 7% increase in flood and storm activity every year for several decades. While hurricane patterns remain unpredictable, natural disasters are increasing every year.
What’s may be contributing to the feeling that hurricanes are more frequent is that the cost increases every year by millions. Researchers theorize (and it’s somewhat obvious) that the increasing cost of disasters is because of where we live. The population density of major costal cities is growing faster than safe housing and appropriate building codes for houses and office buildings can keep up. (The population of Miami Dade county has grown 1,600% since 1930.)
If it seems that disasters are getting worse – they are – sort of. The sum total of natural disasters is getting worse. The real questions we need to ask ourselves is not how to control what we can’t control (earthquakes and hurricanes) but how we can protect our families and livelihoods in the face of more precarious working and living conditions.
If your family doesn’t have a disaster plan, make one tonight. Click here for some tips. If your business doesn’t have a disaster recovery plan, start on one today. If you need tips you can download our Disaster Avoidance and Recovery whitepaper or visit our Disaster Recovery Resource Center.
