Characteristics and the regional variation of meteorological disaster-attributed mortality in Korea

Human death and injury due to meteorological disasters makes up a crucial part of the influences of climate change on health. Previous studies on meteorological disasters, however, have mainly focused on economic losses and have provided poor analyses of human impact, including the causes of death and the identification of vulnerable groups. Information about specific causes of death in meteorological disasters is very useful in terms of identifying vulnerable groups, devising damage-prevention measures, and writing action guidelines for citizens. In addition, long-term trend data in the number and characteristics of casualties due to meteorological disasters are also needed to evaluate the health impacts of climate change and develop better measures for adaptation in future. The same meteorological disasters will result in different amounts of damage depending on the characteristics of the regions and societies impacted, which is why it is important to take a comparative approach to the analysis the factors responsible for differences in mortality due to meteorological disasters. Without active response plans and actions at local and regional levels, central governments will face limitations to their efforts to reduce mortality due to meteorological disasters. Research to analyze the characteristics of casualties due to meteorological disasters and the factors responsible for differences in mortality by region will offer critical information for the establishment and implementation of such damageprevention measures on the basis of consideration of regional characteristics. In that vein, this study set out to build and utilize a database of casualties due to meteorological disasters in Korea and to use it to analyze the characteristics of those casualties and the factors responsible for differences in mortality across regions. The results show 2,045 casualties due to meteorological disasters between 1990 and 2008: floods caused the biggest number of deaths, at 966 (47.2%), followed by typhoons at 748 (36.6%) and storms at 316 (15.5%). The biggest cause of death was drowning, at 1,234 (60.3%), followed by landslide, at 403 (19.7%) and building collapse, at 206 (10.1%). With regard to causes of drowning, overflowing and rapid streams caused the most casualties at 743 (60.1%), followed by capsized boats at 368 (29.8%) and waves at 60 (4.9%). Breaking down annual average mortality by gender, male mortality was 3.11 per one million national population, which was 1.9 times higher than female mortality, at 1.63 per one million population. It was also found that mortality tended to increase with age. As for mortality by the coastal regions of provinces (small-and-medium-sized cities and farming and fishing towns) recorded the highest mortality at 6.19 per one million population, followed by the inland regions of provinces at 3.23, the coastal regions of metropolitan cities at 0.94, and the inland regions of metropolitan cities at 0.55. Finally, with regard to changes over time, deaths by flood decreased by around a quarter, from 80.2 to 20.5, whereas deaths by typhoons increased by 1.7 times, from 31.1 to 54.4, which shows that the biggest cause of meteorological disaster-related deaths in South Korea has changed from floods to typhoons. In an effort to identify the factors responsible for differences in mortality by region due to meteorological disasters from 1990 to 2010 in Korea, the investigator carried out multiple linear regression analysis with city, as the analysis units; annual mean deaths per one million people in cities, guns, and gus as the dependent variable; and the demographic, meteorological, geographical, and socioeconomic factors of each city, gun, and gu as the independent variables. The results showed that mortality tended to rise with increases in any of several variables: monthly maximum precipitation, number of days with strong winds (14 m/s and over), average altitude, and growth rate of park area per 1,000 people; it also tended to rise with lower distribution rate of water and sewer. Analysis results and province reveal that mortality tended to rise in metropolitan cities when there was a longer coastline, less agricultural land, a faster rate of disappearance of agricultural land, and less distribution rate of water and sewer. Mortality also tended to rise in provinces when monthly maximum precipitation was higher, the number of days with heavy precipitation (80mm/day and over) and the number of days with strong (14 m/s and over) was higher, and the growth rate in the amount of park area per 1,000 people was higher. The study also analyzed deaths by type of disaster, and found that mortality by flood was higher when the proportion of people aged 65 and over was higher, monthly maximum precipitation was higher, and area of forest land was higher. In contrast, mortality by typhoon was higher when the number of days with strong winds (14 m/s and over) was higher and the distribution rate of water and sewer. These findings can serve as basic public health data for the establishment of damageprevention measures that take into account the regional characteristics of deaths by meteorological disasters and their implications for prevention. However, a more precise disaster-dynamics monitoring system is still required, and research on differences in factors responsible for differences in mortality by region should be expanded in order to establish measures for meteorological disasters.

Author dc:creator

• 명, 형남

Contributors dc:contributor

• 장, 재연
• 대학원 의학과
• 200924474

• climate change
• disasters
• flood
• tropical cyclone
• regional mortality rate
• vulnerability
• epidemiology

Language dc:language

ko

Identifier

http://dcoll.ajou.ac.kr:9080/dcollection/jsp/common/DcLoOrgPer.jsp?sItemId=000000016184
000000016184

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:repository.ajou.ac.kr:201003/10914