Zimbabwe has endured various natural hazards including droughts, epidemic diseases, floods, and storms over the past century. From 1900 to 2017, the country encountered 7 drought events, 22 epidemic episodes, 12 floods, and 5 storms, which resulted in total deaths of roughly 7000 people, with more than 20 million people affected, and total damage of $950 million USD. The number of total people affected and economic loss caused by droughts have been observed to increase considerably. Epidemic diseases, particularly bacterial and parasitic types, contribute to significant portion of total deaths and total affected people by natural hazards. Floods are strongly associated with total economic loss. The country has experienced several riverine floods. During the same time period, 9 riverine floods are accounted, affecting over 300 thousand people, killing over 270 people and leading to above $270 million monetary loss. Zimbabwe is one of the six countries where the poor are overexposed (or 50% more likely) to be flooded than nonpoor people (Unbreakable, 2017).
This section allows you to explore the susceptibility of livelihoods and natural systems to impacts of climate variability and change and facilitate the exploration of socioeconomic and development data and its relationships with natural hazards vulnerable areas.