The death toll of natural disasters still killed a significant number of people totaling to 21,610 but this is largely below the annual average between 2003-2012 which is 106,654.
96.5 million people became victims worldwide, which was also below the 2003-2012 annual average of 216 million. On the side of the economy, economic damages from natural disasters shows, in 2013, a decrease to average levels, 2013 US$ 156.7billion, with estimates placing the costs at US$ 118.6 billion.
Trends in occurrence and victims (deaths and affected)
In 2013, China experienced its highest number of natural disasters of the last decade. The country was affected by a variety of disaster types, including 17 floods and landslides, 15 storms, 7 earthquakes and one mass movement of geological origin, one drought and one period of extreme temperature.
Comment: In sum, 2013 saw fewer disasters, deaths, victims and economic damages on the whole. However, it saw isolated instances of record-breaking disasters, while floods and storms were responsible for the worst damage in terms of people affected. China and the U.S. continue to be hit the hardest, with China enduring its highest number of disasters in the last decade.
As Pierre Lescaudron describes in his book, Earth Changes and the Human-Cosmic Connection, this apparent decrease in disasters is probably due to an overall decrease in the Earth's electric field (due to a solar-companion-induced drop in the Sun's activity) and an increase in the conductivity of that field (due to the increase in comet dust entering our atmosphere). The result: more frequent, smaller storms (hurricanes, tornadoes, lightning, etc.). This will show up in the statistics as a drop in major natural disasters, but as we can see around us, it doesn't say much about the continued crazy weather the planet has been experiencing the last couple years.
It's the time for floods and storms to do their damage, while cosmically-induced processes perhaps build up for some future, major disasters. Think Chelyabinsk. Think Ebola.