Country living will kill you

Image: University of South Carolina

Hurricanes and other “superstorms,” reputedly caused by man-made global warming, are not the big killers you might think they are.

Rather, seasonal heat and cold are the biggest natural hazards, according to a new, U.S. “death map” created by University of South Carolina geographers.

The highest mortality levels are in rural areas, the study found.

I can see the wheels turning over at Agenda 21 Central: This map helps make the case that people need to be packed closer together…

From the abstract:

Chronic everyday hazards such as severe weather (summer and winter) and heat account for the majority of natural hazard fatalities. The regions most prone to deaths from natural hazards are the South and intermountain west, but sub-regional county-level mortality patterns show more variability. There is a distinct urban/rural component to the county patterns as well as a coastal trend. Significant clusters of high mortality are in the lower Mississippi Valley, upper Great Plains, and Mountain West, with additional areas in west Texas, and the panhandle of Florida, Significant clusters of low mortality are in the Midwest and urbanized Northeast.

via Abstract | Spatial patterns of natural hazards mortality in the United States.

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