Natural disasters caused $109 billion in economic damage last year, three times more than in 2009, with Chile and China bearing most of the cost, the United Nations said Monday.
The 8.8-magnitude earthquake that struck Chile in February cost $30 billion.
Mediterranean-type ecosystems constitute one of the rarest terrestrial biomes and yet they are extraordinarily biodiverse. Home to over 250 million people, the five regions where these ecosystems are found have climate and coastal conditions that make them highly desirable human habitats.
In a country where mining tragedies are common, there was jubilation on October 13 at a rescue operation that lifted 33 miners to safety after a lengthy ordeal in Chile.
SANTIAGO: The 33 miners trapped nearly a kilometre underground in northern Chile may be rescued by October 17, weeks before the government's original predictions, President Sebastian Pinera announced in a nationally broadcast radio interview on Monday.
Rescuers on Friday achieved an important milestone in the effort to rescue 33 trapped miners, reaching the caverns where the men are trapped with a bore hole that will now be widened so they can be pulled to safety.
