26th - CALIFORNIA - MUDSLIDES - 14 DEAD - occurred in areas where forest fires had burned during the summer.
26th - IRAN - 6.6 EARTHQUAKE - 26,271
DEAD.
19th - PHILIPPINES - LANDSLIDES - 200 DEAD.
16th - INDIA - CYCLONE - 50 DEAD.
NOVEMBER 2003:
30th - CHINA - 6.1 EARTHQUAKE - 11 DEAD.
13th - VIETNAM - SEVERE FLOODING - 47 DEAD - 8 missing.
12th - ARGENTINA - HUGE THUNDERSTORMS - 12 DEAD.
2nd - SUMATRA - FLASH FLOODING CAUSED BY TORRENTIAL RAINS - 260 DEAD.
OCTOBER 2003:
31st - SUDAN - ASTHMA EPIDEMIC CAUSED BY PLAGUE OF LOCUSTS - 11 DEAD - 1600 sent to hospitals. A full-fledged desert locust plague
has the potential of damaging the livelihood of a tenth of
the world's population.
26th - CALIFORNIA - WILDFIRES - 20 DEAD - 1900 homes destroyed - California's deadliest outbreak of fires in more than a decade.
24th - CHINA - LANDSLIDE - 12 DEAD, all members of the same family.
19th - U.S. EAST COAST - HURRICANE ISABEL - 40 DEAD.
11th - SOUTH KOREA - TYPHOON MAEMI (strongest typhoon in over a century) - 127 DEAD - 27 missing.
7th - HAITI -FLOODING - 24 DEAD.
6th - MALI - TORRENTIAL RAIN AND FLOODING - SCORES DEAD.
3rd - CHINA - TYPHOON DUJUAN (strongest typhoon there in a quarter of a century) - 86 DEAD - about 1000 people injured.
AUGUST 2003:
31st - HAITI - TORRENTIAL RAIN AND FLOODS - 11 DEAD - 24 missing.
29th - NW CHINA - LANDSLIDES AND FLOODING - 13 DEAD - 25,000 evacuated.
16th - NEPAL - LANDSLIDE - 15 DEAD SOLDIERS.
11th - SOUTH ASIA - Since the monsoons began in June, landslides, lightning, overflowing rivers and waterborne diseases have killed at least 912 people, including 358 in India. More than 12 million people have been left homeless or stranded after their houses collapsed.
11th - SOUTHERN EUROPE - 2-WEEK-LONG HEATWAVE & FOREST FIRES - 51 DEAD
(update: FRANCE - 15,435 DEAD.
ITALY 4000 DEAD.
PORTUGAL - 1300 DEAD.)
10th - JAPAN - TYPHOON ETAU - 20 DEAD.
10th - CHINA - LANDSLIDE - 11 DEAD.
7th - INDIA - FIERCE THUNDERSTORM WITH FLOODING - 17 DEAD.
4th - PORTUGAL - WORST FIRES IN A GENERATION - 16 DEAD.
4TH - SPAIN & GERMANY - HEATWAVE - 18 DEAD.
JULY 2003:
29th - NEPAL - HUGE LANDSLIDES AFTER HEAVY RAINS - 58 DEAD - 30 missing.
28TH - PAKISTAN - WORST FLOODS IN A DECADE - over 100 DEAD - tens of thousands stranded without food and shelter for days.
The magnitude 7.9 quake that hit Central Alaska on November 3 was the world's biggest earthquake in 2002, and the largest to hit the United States since 1996 when another 7.9 hit Alaska's Andreanof Islands.
In 2002 there were 85 significant earthquakes that killed 1711 people around the world. Significant earthquakes have a magnitude of 6.5 or greater or cause fatalities, injuries or substantial damage. The deadliest earthquake of the year was a magnitude 6.1 in Afghanistan that killed at least 1000 people. 2002 saw 13 major quakes (magnitude 7.0 - 7.9) and no great earthquakes of magnitude 8 or higher. The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) locates about 50 earthquakes each day or almost 20,000 a year. On average, there are 18 major earthquakes (magnitude 7.0 to 7.9) and one great earthquake (8.0 or higher) each year worldwide. Several million earthquakes occur in the world each year, but many go undetected because they occur in remote areas or have very small magnitudes. In the United States, earthquakes pose significant risk to 75 million Americans in 39 States.
The Alaska quake caused $20 million in damage and temporarily suspended operation of the Trans-Alaska Pipeline. Lake Pontchartrain in La. sloshed about, and wells in Washington, Idaho, Louisiana, Oklahoma, Missouri, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania produced muddy water as a result of the Alaska temblor. 75 million Americans in 39 states are at risk for earthquake hazards.
While global rainfall was average overall, El Nino contributed to extreme drought in the US, comparable with the Great Dust Bowl of the 1930s, and in Canada, Australia, West Africa and India. Droughts continued in parts of central America, and central Europe experienced near-record floods. Tropical storm activity was below normal globally, and in India a failure of the monsoon rains led to the first all-India drought since 1987.
Flooding in central Europe was probably the most severe in 100 years or so.
26th - CALIFORNIA - MUDSLIDES - 14 DEAD - occurred in areas where forest fires had burned during the summer.
16th - INDIA - CYCLONE - 50 DEAD.
13th - VIETNAM - SEVERE FLOODING - 47 DEAD - 8 missing.
31st - SUDAN - ASTHMA EPIDEMIC CAUSED BY PLAGUE OF LOCUSTS - 11 DEAD - 1600 sent to hospitals. A full-fledged desert locust plague
has the potential of damaging the livelihood of a tenth of
the world's population. 
26th - CALIFORNIA - WILDFIRES - 20 DEAD - 1900 homes destroyed - California's deadliest outbreak of fires in more than a decade.
19th - U.S. EAST COAST - HURRICANE ISABEL - 40 DEAD.
11th - SOUTHERN EUROPE - 2-WEEK-LONG HEATWAVE & FOREST FIRES - 51 DEAD 
10th - GERMANY - THUNDERSTORMS - 12 DEAD - among them a child swept away by a helium balloon.