With the catastrophic cyclone that continues to devastate Myanmar(formerly Burma), perhaps some may be wondering what the difference in a hurricane, typhoon, cyclone, and tornado may be(By the way, as I am writing this, a tornado is moving through Oklahoma City about 70 blocks north of me.

Actually, what is being described as a "cyclone" in Myanmar is one type of cyclone--a "tropical cyclone" that can cause huge devastation when it comes inland. Different areas of the world identify these cyclones by various names; but, actually they are all the same. In the Atlantic, we traditionally call them hurricanes; in the Pacific, meterologists identify them as typhoons; in the Indian Ocean, weather gurus title them cyclones.

Tornadoes form inland devastating, as a rule, smaller land areas.



The most devastating of these storms traditionally form in the oceans surrounding the Asian countries.

Deadliest storms mostly in Bengal

Storms in the Bay of Bengal account for seven of the 10 deadliest hurricanes, typhoons and cyclones in recorded history, as documented by Weather Underground. The casualty figures are notoriously difficult to pin down, but here is the list:

Bhola cyclone, Bangladesh (East Pakistan), 1970. Death toll estimated at 150,000 to 550,000.

Hooghly River cyclone, India and Bangladesh, 1737. Death toll: 350,000.

Haiphong typhoon, Vietnam, 1881. Death toll: 300,000.

Coringa cyclone, India, 1839. Death toll: 300,000.

Backerganj cyclone, Bangladesh, 1584. Death toll: 200,000.

Great Backerganj Cyclone, Bangladesh, 1876. Death toll: 200,000.

Chittagong cyclone, Bangladesh, 1897. Death toll: 175,000.

Super Typhoon Nina, China, 1975. Death toll: 171,000.

Cyclone 02B, Bangladesh, 1991. Death toll: 140,000.

Great Bombay Cyclone, India (from the Arabian Sea), 1882. Death toll: 100,000.

Depending on how the final death toll is estimated, Cyclone Nargis may well find its way onto the top-10 list. On Wednesday, a U.S. diplomat told The Associated Press that the toll could top 100,000.

Other deadly disasters

To put those figures into perspective, other types of natural disasters have caused far more casualties throughout history. China's 1931 Yangtze River flood rates as the very deadliest on the list, with estimates of the death toll ranging from 850,000 (or even lower, according to the Chinese government) to as many as 4 million people.

The deadliest earthquake in recorded history is China's Shaanxi earthquake of 1556, which is said to have killed 830,000 people. The Asian tsunami of 2004 also rates a place on the top-10 list for the deadliest natural disasters, with the toll currently estimated at more than 230,000 people.

The 1900 Galveston hurricane, which killed about 8,000 people in Texas, is considered the deadliest natural disaster in U.S. history.

Comments:

Amazing isn't it, how we learn to live with the threat of a tornado? Glad it missed you and my children and didn't take any lives. I was worried because my son works at 50 Penn Place but he assured me that they have a basement for shelter.

comment by elderjane on May 8, 2008 6:44 AM ()

It becomes a fact of life for us. I did have the television on as Gary was tracking the storm. I was keeping a close eye; but I feel fairly safe when the storm is north of me.

reply by redimpala on May 8, 2008 9:45 AM ()

Goodness this is mind-boggling. So glad that the storm system has gone passed you all. Ours has gone past us too.

comment by texastar on May 7, 2008 7:36 PM ()

I know you all up there get storms worse than we do down here. I am glad that it went on past.

reply by texastar on May 8, 2008 1:45 PM ()

The wall cloud passed us by fairly quickly, and the all-clear was given. It was a little scary for an hour or so; but I was watching it closely on TV.

reply by redimpala on May 8, 2008 9:47 AM ()

Wow!

comment by ekyprogressive on May 7, 2008 4:26 PM ()

Mind-boggling, isn't it?

reply by redimpala on May 7, 2008 5:21 PM ()

omg wow... and I am complaining about work.

comment by kristilyn3 on May 7, 2008 4:15 PM ()

We forget how fortunate we really are, don't we?

reply by redimpala on May 7, 2008 5:22 PM ()

Those death tolls are incredible! . For me to sitting here typing away, chatting to you - when there is a tornado so close to you and your not panicking You are made of sterner stuff than I Joan

comment by augusta on May 7, 2008 4:07 PM ()

- thank goodness for that!

reply by augusta on May 8, 2008 5:55 AM ()

I had my TV on right beside me, watching the weatherman track it. But one thing we who live in Oklahoma know is that 99% of all tornadoes track from
Southwest to Northwest. This one formed north of me, so I felt fairly safe. It was not a large one, though it did take out some trees and knock out some power. It may have done other damage; but that is all I know of at this time. The storm system has now passed on past us and the tornado alert has been lifted.

reply by redimpala on May 7, 2008 5:27 PM ()