Oslo:
Experts say more than 42 million people around the world were forced to flee their homes because of natural disasters in 2010, more than double the number during the previous year.
The Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre says over 90 per cent of these disaster displacements were caused by weather-related hazards such as floods and storms.
The Geneva-based centre presented its report at an international conference in Oslo on Monday.
It said the number of reported natural disasters has doubled from around 200 to over 400 a year over the past two decades.
It said Asia was the hardest-hit region last year, with the largest number of displaced people seen in countries such as India, the Philippines, Bangladesh, Indonesia, China and Pakistan.