Tropical cyclones

Tropical cyclones, also known as typhoons or hurricanes, are among the most destructive weather phenomena. They are intense circular storms that originate over warm tropical oceans, and have maximum sustained wind speeds exceeding 119 kilometres per hour and heavy rains.

However, the greatest damage to life and property is not from the wind, but from secondary events such as storm surges, flooding, landslides and tornadoes.

Tropical cyclones are referred to by different names depending on where they originate in the world.

• Hurricanes occur in the Atlantic Ocean and the eastern north Pacific Ocean.
• Typhoons occur in the western Pacific Ocean.
• Tropical cyclones occur in the south Pacific Ocean and Indian Ocean.

From 1998-2017, storms, including tropical cyclones and hurricanes, were second only to earthquakes in terms of fatalities, killing 233 000 people. During this time, storms also affected an estimated 726 million people worldwide, meaning they were injured, made homeless, displaced or evacuated during the emergency phase of the disaster.

Over the past 30 years the proportion of the world’s population living on cyclone-exposed coastlines has increased 192 percent, thus raising the risk of mortality and morbidity in the event of a tropical cyclone.