REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, JAKARTA -- A total of 2,426 natural disasters hit Indonesia during 2018 until Dec 14, leaving 4,231 people dead or missing, according to the National Disaster Mitigation Board (BNPB). The natural disasters also led to injuries to 6,948 people and forced 9.9 million others to take refuge, BNPB Chief Willem Rampangilei stated here on Wednesday.

In total, 374,023 houses were damaged in the 2018 natural disasters, Rampangilei noted. He remarked that 2,350, or 96.9 percent of the natural disasters, were hydrometeorological disasters and 76, or 3.1 percent, were geological disasters.

"Predominantly, natural disasters, such as floods, landslides, and whirlwinds, occurred in 2018," he pointed out.

Although the number of geological disasters was lesser than that of hydrometeorological disasters, the geological disasters, including earthquakes and tsunami, had a greater impact than the hydrometeorological disasters, he stated.

The agency noted that 20 disastrous earthquakes left 572 people dead and 2,012 others injured, and forced 483,364 people to flee their homes, as 16,520 houses were damaged.

At least 3,397 people were killed and 4,426 others injured when a powerful earthquake followed by a tsunami and liquefaction engulfed the Indonesian province of Central Sulawesi late September 2018. The natural disasters also forced 221,450 people to take refuge and destroyed 69,139 residential buildings.

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