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N. Korea is No. 1 in disaster deaths: report
SEOUL, Jan. 22 (Yonhap) -- North Korea has had the largest number of people in the world killed by natural disasters over the past decade, the international Red Cross said in its latest annual report.
Over 458,000 people died in the natural disasters that hit North Korea from 1997 to 2006, the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) said in its World Disasters Report 2007 released Thursday.
The figure accounts for about 38 percent of some 1.2 million natural disaster-caused deaths reported in 220 countries across the world during the same period, the report said.
The figure was more than double the number in Indonesia where 181,977 people died in natural disasters. Pakistan and Sri Lanka ranked third and forth.
North Korea, meanwhile, ranked second in disaster deaths from 1987 to 1996, when 153,458 North Koreans died in natural disasters, according to the report. The North ranked slightly behind Bangladesh, top of the list, where flood and other natural disasters caused 156,074 deaths.
The report also said the number of North Korean defectors has decreased after rising to a peak of 101,700 people in 2003, citing statistics from the U.S. Committee for Refugees and Immigrants. The number was 100,000 in 2004, shrinking to 51,400 in 2005 and then 34,000 in 2006, the report said.
sshim@yna.co.kr
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