Mortality figures of three big disasters by age

This figure shows the mortality rates per age category for three different major disasters in the countries Netherlands (storm surge 1953), USA (hurricane Katrina 2005) and Japan (GEJET 2011). In both the Dutch and American case, children had a higher mortality than people aged roughly 18-30. In all countries older adults have a much higher mortality, with all people aged 75 and up a rate higher than 2.3. People during hurricane Katrina in the USA aged 75 years and older even had a rate of 8.68. This calls for extra support measures aimed at older adults during both the preparation and response phases of disaster management.