#1 China's Creeping Sandbox
In Minquin County, China, you will find yourself between two creeping deserts. That space between the deserts was once a thriving oasis, but after a drought that has lasted a decade and the diversion of water from the river, the deserts on both sides are creeping in, taking up more and more of the fertile land. Those living there are living on borrowed time, as they are trapped between sand that approaches at a rate of 10 meters per year, producing at least 130 days of wind and dust.
#2 Northern Triangle
The Northern Triangle, made up of Honduras, El Salvador and Guatemala, has the highest incidence of violent death on earth. With over 170 homicides per 100,000 residents, Honduras is the worst of the three. Gangs rule with killing sprees that can last up to three days, often involving kidnapping, torture, and murder. With corruption running rampant, drug trafficking, extortion, and gunplay are common every day occurrences. Over 6,000 refugees have fled Guatemala alone. The danger of violence outweighs any natural disaster.
#3 Lake Natron
In Tanzania, Africa, Lake Natron might look peaceful, but the alkaline water with a pH as high as 10.5, will burn skin and eyes of animals that are not adapted to it. Animals that come into contact with this lake become calcified, appearing stiff and like statues, perfectly preserved. What would it do to humans? This is not a lake made for any living creature to survive in, unless you are a highly alkaline fish.
#4 Indonesia
Seemingly in one of the most dangerous positions on the globe, Indonesia has faced one of the most treacherous tsunamis in history in 2004 when the Indian Ocean Tsunami killed roughly 227,898 people. However, that’s not the only potential threat that poses risk for residents and tourists. Volcano eruptions, landslides, earthquakes, and floods are all highly possible at any time, and while they worry about those big events striking, 9,329 people have been killed by drought.
#5 Sehel Region of Africa
A slow killer, drought has killed more than 100,000 people in a ten year span from 1972 through 1984. The Sehel region of Africa borders the Sahara Desert and spreads across northern Africa. With diminished wetlands and severe drought, anyone living there is subjected to dehydration and starvation, due to the inability to grow crops under such conditions. Human exploitation of the water in the are is to blame for the risk of future instances of mass death.
#6 Lake Nyos
Lake Nyos, in West Africa looks like any ordinary lake, but beneath the surface is a time bomb. Deep in the lake bed lies a pocket of magma that has been leaking carbon dioxide. The pressure of 650 feet of lake water keeps the carbon dioxide bottled up, kind of like the pressure under a soda cap. Once you remove that cap, the bubbles rush to the top, spilling over. At the end of the summer of 1986, the lake became depressurized, and the carbon dioxide rushed to the surface killing more than 1,700 people in its wake.
#7 Mount Merapi
With smoke floating up to 10,000 feet in the sky, Mount Merapi has been nicknamed Fire Mountain. This volcano on the island of Java, has erupted roughly 60 times over the past five centuries. There has been a vast increase since 2006, but in spite of statistics, about 200,000 villagers live within four miles of the treacherous volcano, knowing that the eruption that occurred in 1994 killed 60 people with a lethal cloud of hot gas.
#8 The Ephemeral Maldive Islands
With an elevation of just a little more than six feet, the 1,190 islands that make up Maldives in the Indian Ocean might be underwater soon. President Nasheed suggested that people find other residences in Sri Lanka or India, commenting on the Tsunami that swept over the island in 2004, leaving only 10 percent of it inhabitable. With one third of the residents left homeless and eighty people dead, the future does not look certain should another wall of water hit the islands.
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