TheJakartaPost
Please Update your browser
Your browser is out of date, and may not be compatible with our website. A list of the most popular web browsers can be found below.
Just click on the icons to get to the download page.
2008: A year of death and destruction
Natural disasters -- ranging from earthquakes to cyclones -- became the single largest killer in 2008
Change text size
Gift Premium Articles
to Anyone
Share the best of The Jakarta Post with friends, family, or colleagues. As a subscriber, you can gift 3 to 5 articles each month that anyone can read—no subscription needed!
N
atural disasters -- ranging from earthquakes to cyclones -- became the single largest killer in 2008. Believe it or not, over 220,000 people were killed in natural disasters, of which 90 percent of victims were from Asia (Myanmar and China in particular). Millions more became homeless because of floods, storms, earthquakes and cyclones.
2008 was one of the warmest years in the last decade, which once again reminds us to make a global effort to reduce greenhouse pollution.
Wars in Iraq, Afghanistan, Georgia, Congo and in Gaza claimed thousands of lives and left millions homeless. Even after seven years of the United State's led global war on terror, thousands of innocent people were blown to pieces in terrorist attacks in Pakistan, Afghanistan, India, Iraq, Thailand, the Philippines, Algeria and Gaza.
Adding fuel to the fire, the global economy plunged into a devastating economic crisis, threatening the livelihoods of millions of people across the globe.
For the first time in that nation's history, a black American, Barrack Obama, has won the presidency of the United States, making Martin Luther King's dream of racial equality a reality. Meanwhile, President George W. Bush became the lamest of lame ducks and received a special farewell gift from an Iraqi journalist.
Throughout the year people in Myanmar, Iran, Zimbabwe and several other countries continued their struggle for democracy and human rights. On its part Indonesia, a major regional power in Southeast Asia, launched, along with Australia, a new initiative called the Bali Democracy Forum, to promote democracy. -- JP
