Natural disaster risk: Kolkata ranks 7th in global city list

London: Kolkata has emerged as the world’s seventh riskiest city — the only entry from India — when it comes to being under threat from all types of naturaldisasters. 

    An assessment of 616 cities around the world for their risk of earthquake, hurricanes and cyclones, storm surge, river flooding and tsunami has found 17.9 million Kolkatans face serious risk from natural disasters. When it comes to only the threat of river floods, 10.5 million Kolkatans are at risk, but the city is also fifth in terms of tsunami risk, with more than half a million people exposed. It is also threatened by hurricanes. 
    When the analysis looked at urban storms only as a form of natural disaster, two new Indian cities figured in the list as most threatened — Mumbai is ranked eighth with an expected 4.3 million people at risk, while Chennai is ranked ninth most threatened with 4 million people expected to bear the brunt. 
    Tokyo is the riskiest city in the world from all types of natural disasters. With 37 million inhabitants living under the threat of earthquakes, monsoons, river floods and tsunami, 29 million people in this region are potentially exposed. 
    Manila is second followed by the Pearl River Delta in China, Osaka, Jakarta, Nagoya, Kolkata, Shanghai, Los Angeles and Tehran. The report released on Wednesday shows storms endanger mostly urban areas on the coast. 
    For the full report, log on to www.timesofindia.com 
UNDER THREAT 
1 Tokyo-Yokohama, Japan 2 Manila, Philippines 3 Pearl River Delta, China(Hong Kong, Shenzhen, Macau & Ghangzhou) 4 Osaka-Kobe, Japan 5 Jakarta, Indonesia 6 Nagoya, Japan 7 Kolkata, India