Temporal Trends and Epidemiological Profile of Disasters in Oceania: 2000–2023

AIM: To analyse the epidemiological profile of disasters in Oceania in terms of their temporal trends, as well as their profile of mortality and morbidity. DESIGN: A retrospective observational study of disasters in Oceania between 2000 and 2023 was conducted using the United Nations definition of disaster, as well as the Centre for Research on the Epidemiology of Disasters inclusion criteria. MEASUREMENTS: The absolute and relative frequencies, rates per million inhabitants of deaths, injuries, and affected people, as well as time trends, were calculated. RESULTS: A total of 398 disasters were recorded between the years 2000 and 2023. Of these, 373 (93.72%) were associated with disasters related to natural hazards, and 25 (6.28%) were attributed to technological disasters. Among disasters related to natural hazards, 153 (38.44%) were meteorological, 111 (27.89%) hydrological, 45 (11.31%) geophysical, 41 (10.30%) climatological, and 23 (5.78%) biological. Of the 20 technological disasters, 5.03% were transport accidents, 0.75% were miscellaneous accidents, and 0.50% were industrial accidents. CONCLUSIONS: The most frequent disasters in Oceania were disasters related to natural hazards, with meteorological disasters being the most frequent subtype. Although technological disasters were less frequent than natural disasters, they had a higher average mortality rate.