The world is full of natural disasters: almost every day we are informed about volcanic eruptions, floods, storms … So where is human life in greatest danger? The BBC Earth columnist has tried to compile a list of the scariest places in the world.
Most of us have the experience of unexpected encounters with the vagaries of nature: after all, who hasn’t gotten wet in the rain or sunburned? But there are places on Earth where Mother Nature becomes a real killer.
To find the most dangerous zones on our planet, let's conditionally divide them according to their belonging to the four elements.
Water
Of course, water is dangerous for us, because a person is rather poorly adapted to life in this environment.
Whirlpool in the Saltstraumen Strait (Norway)
Despite our talents as sailors, 1,051 people died at sea in 2012 alone, according to the International Maritime Organization. However, only a small part of these deaths are directly related to the elements.
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A particular geographic location can affect the properties of certain water basins, making them more dangerous. For example, Norway's Saltstraumen Strait has an intimidating reputation for being the fastest current on Earth.
However, the homeland of the most powerful whirlpools in the world has been studied so well that tourists can cross this strait in an inflatable boat accompanied by an experienced skipper.
Perhaps the sea element should be more feared by those who are not at sea, but on land. People living on the seaside know that floods are extremely dangerous.
For example, the Maldives, which are a group of low islands and atolls in the Indian Ocean, are so threatened by rising sea levels that they are called "disappearing islands."
The planet's climate continues to change and the threat is growing every year. Flash floods caused by a tsunami or storm are especially dangerous.
The 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami caused terrible destruction (the picture shows what used to be a bridge)
A tsunami is a sudden movement of large volumes of water in which a wave or series of waves has devastating consequences. Most tsunamis - 71 percent, according to the US National Weather Service - occur in the Pacific Ocean.
Nevertheless, according to the head of the tsunami department of the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission of UNESCO, Thorkild Orup, tsunamis caused by earthquakes can occur in any active zone of a tectonic fault.
To protect people from these dangerous natural phenomena, global tsunami warning and mitigation systems have been created.
But there are places where it is possible to warn of an impending tsunami only 20 minutes before its arrival, so the number of victims of the disaster remains high.
In 2004, an earthquake off the coast of the Indonesian island of Sumatra caused the deadliest tsunami in modern history, killing up to 280,000 people in 15 countries.
It is difficult even to imagine such losses, but even more people die when rivers flood.
The famous Three Gorges Dam in China
The flooding on the Yangtze River in China in the summer of 1931 is believed to have killed millions of people, although the figures are underreported in official documents.
The heavy snowfalls and thaws of the previous winter, combined with unusually heavy rains, then caused one of the worst natural disasters known to mankind.
Today, billions of people live on the floodplains of China's largest rivers. As weather patterns change, floods are becoming an increasingly serious threat.
Air
Researchers have found several so-called killer lakes in Africa, but the water in them is not dangerous in itself.
Dangerous amounts of carbon dioxide are dissolved in the seemingly serene waters of Lake Kivu
Lake Nyos in Cameroon and Lake Kivu on the border between Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo pose an invisible threat. They are both located in areas of volcanic activity where carbon dioxide seeps out of the ground.
During what scientists call a limnological catastrophe, this gas rises above the lake, forming a cloud.
Since carbon dioxide is heavier than air, this cloud moves downward, displacing oxygen and killing all life around.
After two such emissions in Cameroon killed more than 1,700 people and 3,500 head of livestock in the 1980s, experts developed methods for the safe and regular degassing of these lakes using pipes and hydraulic seals.
On Lake Kivu, where methane also seeps out of the ground, people have managed to put this phenomenon to their service.
A project has been developed to use the pumped-out gas to generate electricity, which will provide electricity to millions of people.
But not only gases can kill. In strong winds, the air itself can be fatal.
Hurricanes cause massive damage to Haiti
If we take the average values for the year, then the windiest place on Earth will be Cape Denison in Antarctica, so it should not be surprising that it is uninhabited.
However, seasonal storms also wreak havoc in densely populated areas of the world.
The most powerful storms form over the warm ocean waters south and north of the equator. The trade winds blowing in these areas are amplified by pressure drops, and the Coriolis effect swirls them into vortices, which are called hurricanes, cyclones or typhoons.
Of the islands in the Caribbean, Haiti is believed to be the hardest hit by hurricanes.
The island lies in the path of hurricanes; in addition, this poor country simply does not have enough economic resources to withstand the elements.
Human settlements are located in flooded areas, forests that served as natural protection from storms have already been destroyed, and the economy is not resilient enough for the country to find the funds to create a flood warning or protection system.
Jörn Birkmann is a natural disaster risk research fellow at the University of Stuttgart in Germany. According to him, the danger of cyclones is due to the fact that they are difficult to predict.
“It should be noted that traditional cyclone routes are likely to change,” he says. “This means that cyclones will be observed in areas where they were not previously or were very few.”
"These areas are most at risk because their populations and cities are not prepared for the impact of cyclones."
Birkmann is part of the team behind the annual Global Risks report published by the United Nations University.
This document lists the most vulnerable countries to natural disasters, taking into account their location and available resources. Its goal is to attract the efforts of the international community to protect such countries.
In 2016, Vanuatu topped the list. More than a third of the island nation's residents suffer from natural disasters every year.
In 2015, within just a few weeks, an earthquake and volcanic eruption hit Vanuatu, and then the terrible cyclone Pam hit the island. According to official figures, 11 people became victims of these disasters.
This relatively small figure demonstrates the effectiveness of global action to protect people from natural disasters - both during and after disasters - through the use of the latest infrastructure and the provision of more effective assistance.
By comparison, the worst cyclone casualties occurred in November 1970, when Bangladesh was at the mercy of Cyclone Bhola. The death toll was then 500 thousand people.
Earth
The most dangerous places on Earth are united by one property: they all belong to areas of increased tectonic activity.
Traces of the old San Francisco earthquake
The earth's crust is made of moving plates, and where they rub against each other, potential energy accumulates.
When this energy is released, faults are formed, and seismic waves break out to the surface, shaking the Earth with powerful shocks.
The deadliest earthquake ever documented happened in 1556 in the Chinese province of Shanxi. More than 800 thousand people became its victims.
Since earthquakes also cause tsunamis, it can be said that they do not intend to concede the title of the deadliest natural disaster on Earth to floods.
One of the most famous lithospheric plate boundaries is the San Andreas Fault, which stretches across the state of California at the junction of the Pacific and North American plates.
It is not surprising that the eponymous blockbuster disaster, dedicated to the "home problem", was filmed in Hollywood. If there is a strong earthquake in the area, it will have serious consequences.
San Andreas Fault in California
Yet the greatest danger earthquakes pose to the poorest regions of the world.
Cities like Los Angeles and Tokyo are well protected from earthquakes: thanks to the latest architectural advances, buildings here are shock-resistant and well-protected for their residents.
But this cannot be boast of all the countries that are part of the so-called Pacific Ring of Fire, which accounts for 81% of all major earthquakes.
According to the 2015 Natural Disaster Risk Atlas by Verisk Maplecroft, a risk analysis firm, eight of the ten most disaster-prone cities on the planet are located in the Philippines.
This island state is not only included in the Pacific Ring of Fire, but also located within the so-called typhoon belt.
Fire
The flip side of tectonic activity is the activity of volcanoes. In those places where tectonic plates diverge, the gap between them is filled with hot magma rising from the bowels of the Earth.
The harsh landscape of the Danakil depression
Danakil Depression in Ethiopia is often referred to as the harshest place on Earth. This is where the three slabs meet; perhaps this region is the most volcanically active on the planet.
The average annual temperature in the depression is 34.4 ° C, that is, it is practically the hottest place on Earth.
It almost never rains, the landscape is dotted with volcanic cracks, hot springs and salt marshes; it is only natural to assume that nothing living will withstand such conditions.
But the Afar people call this land their home.
In fact, people often settle near dangerous natural sites, including volcanic mountains that spew out flames. The most famous example is the ancient city of Pompeii in Italy, which was buried under a layer of lava during the eruption of Vesuvius.
Some modern cities also boast views of the active volcano. Naples is located less than 10 kilometers from Vesuvius and Mexico City is 69 kilometers from Popocatepetl.
According to a study by the Global Volcanic Modeling Network, published in 2015, more than 200,000 people have been killed by volcanic eruptions over the past 400 years.
An international expert group has listed the regions that are most at risk due to volcanic activity. Indonesia took the first place in the list.
More recently, in 2010, a strong eruption of Mount Merapi occurred in Indonesia.
In 1815, the eruption of the Tambora volcano on the island of Sumbawa was the direct cause of the deaths of 70 thousand people, and in the northern hemisphere this year is remembered as "a year without summer."
The eruption led to a temporary change in the climate on the planet, that is, the total number of its victims was even greater due to hunger and disease.
Most recently, in 2010, Mount Merapi began spewing out lava and choking ash clouds, causing destruction and death of over 350 people. Nevertheless, the timely evacuation saved tens of thousands of lives.
In the future, hot weather can become no less dangerous than the incandescent lava of volcanoes. In 2003, 70,000 deaths in Europe were recorded as a result of heat stress caused by the invasion of masses of warm air and a sharp increase in temperature.
The heat is most difficult to endure in the city, therefore, as megacities grow, abnormally high air temperatures can become the most dangerous natural phenomenon for a large part of humanity.
Disaster risk reduction professionals will do their best to keep us safe. But the main source of our problems can be ourselves - our successes, our uncontrolled reproduction and economic development.
Ella Davis