The Department of Agriculture blamed excessive heat and the historic drought for putting half of all U.S. counties in "disaster zones" that have now spread beyond the Corn Belt and are starting to boost food prices throughout the country. They also announced that nearly three-quarters of the nation's cattle acreage is inside a disaster zone, as well as a third of the nation's hay acreage. 37% of soybean crops were ranked poor or very poor, along with half of the nation's corn and 57% of pastures. "When I was a kid in the '50s ... it got real dry, but nothing like this," said Marvin Helms, a 70-year-old Arkansas farmer and rancher ... Discuss

Last year was a record-breaking year for natural disasters—and not in a good way. New data collected about natural disasters in 2011 says $366 billion was caused in economic damage.

The Japan earthquake and tsunami alone caused $210 billion in damage, and 19,846 people were killed in those disasters. The data also showed that 45 percent of the disasters in 2011 happened in Asia. The continent also endured 75 percent of the overall economic damages and more than 85 percent of the overall number of people killed.

An interesting point of note from the study is that wealthy and middle-income countries were affected the most.

According to the AlertNet article:

The number of disasters was lower than the 2001-2010 annual average of 384, and death tolls from storms and extreme temperatures were far fewer in 2011 than the previous decade's average.

The Philippines suffered the highest number of reported natural disasters in 2011 with 33, followed by China with 21, and the United States with 19.

Overall, 206 million people were affected by disaster events last year, with some 106 million people hit by floods and 34 million by storms. Drought impacted on 60 million people, mainly in China and the Horn of Africa, where failed rains have caused a widespread hunger crisis. Discuss

A record-setting drought in East Africa has led to an influx of hungry people in Ethiopia. The government estimates there are more than 250,000 people who need food, though some aid agencies have put that number at more than 700,000. Across the horn of Africa, more than 12 million people need food ...

  Discuss

A record-setting drought in East Africa has led to an influx of hungry people in Ethiopia. The government estimates there are more than 250,000 people who need food, though some aid agencies have put that number at more than 700,000. Across the horn of Africa, more than 12 million people need food ...

  Discuss