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| China's worst snowstorm since 1954 killed around 133, delayed traffic, and caused massive power cuts in central and southern parts of the country. The extreme weather in January had brought traffic to a standstill in eight provinces and cut off a key rail link. More than 67 million people are said to be affected. Economic losses were estimated at three billion U.S. dollars, the state-run Xinhua news service reported. |
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The cyclone Nargis made landfall in Burma/Myanmar on May 2 causing catastrophic destruction. The storm's winds reached as high as 121 mph at landfall, but most of the thousands of deaths it caused were blamed not directly on its winds, but on a tidal surge that it drove inland from the sea.
The same month proved to be fatal for central China which shook with an earthquake. Over 69,000 people were reported killed by the earthquake. The epicenter was 90 kilometers (55 miles) west-northwest of Chengdu.
The Iwate earthquake on June 14 struck Japan in a big way. The Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA) officially named this earthquake the Iwate-Miyagi Nairiku Earthquake in 2008. The epicenter was located about 385 kilometers (240 mi) north-northeast of Tokyo. The strongest shakings were measured in the cities of Iwate and Miyagi.
Typhoon Fengshen made a direct hit on the Philippines and China, leaving severe damage. 800 of the 856 people on board the Princess of the Stars were killed when the ship capsized. The Philippines is said to be the most heavily affected country in the wake of Fengshen.
Typhoon Hagupit was the most powerful typhoon to hit Guangdung Province in China on record, hitting there with 140 mph winds. It was the worst typhoon to hit China since Saomai in 2006. It was one of only 3 typhoons to hit this area in southern China.
A powerful earthquake killed at least 72 people and levelled the remote mountainous village of Nura, Kyrgyzstan in October this year. Kyrgyzstan is a destitute, landlocked mountainous nation of around five million people.
Over a million people were affected by floods in three districts of the northern Indian state of Bihar, officials said. The banks of the Kosi River overflowed days after the part of the river in neighbouring Nepal breached an embankment there. Bihar's districts of Supaul, Araria and Madhepura which border Nepal, were the worst affected.
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