The Disaster Diaries

The toll of natural disasters in 2015 amounted to 20,000 lives lost and more than 42 billion dollars worth of damage. It was a record breaking year in several categories. It included tropical storms of unprecedented strength, interminable droughts, and the highest temperatures measured in the 130 years. Is this the result of global warming? Or could other factors, such as El Niño be to blame.

2016 marked the end of one of the strongest El Niño events ever recorded. It triggered unprecedented floods all around the world. But all of that was to change as the planet experienced the hottest August on record. Extreme droughts in several regions sparked massive wildfires. The high surface temperature of the oceans fueled severe storms in the Atlantic and the pacific.

In the year 2017 local weather anomalies caused massive flooding and mudslides in South America, wildfires spread across arid lands in Europe and America. Two deadly earthquakes struck Mexico in separate locations just weeks apart. And record breaking hurricanes battered the Caribbean one after another. Eyewitnesses describe what happened while experts explain the science behind these events.