How’s that for a catchy title? The New Scientist magazine links to several different maps which look at the areas of the United States where residents are most likely to die from a natural disaster.
The most interesting thing about these maps, to me and others who have looked at them, is that severe heat kills more people than any other natural disaster cause, and it’s closely followed by winter weather. (Which means it’s not the headliners like hurricanes that are likely to get you, but the day-to-day things, and not being wise during those times of severe weather. Stepping off my soapbox now.) It’s also interesting that the data is broken down by county, which means studies can be done on why mortality rates can differ so significantly across a non-physical map line. (cf. the Chicago Heat Wave post I did last week.)
These maps are based on this article, “Spatial patterns of natural hazards mortality in the United States,” published in the open-access International Journal of Health Geographics, by two researchers from the University of South Carolina’s Hazards and Vulnerability Research Institute.