The year 2010 was a ‘mixed bag’ for me. There were some positive aspects and events but mostly the year was one of sorrow and pain. Infect 2010 was the most catastrophic year for humanity in the last four decades. Man-made and natural disasters took their tool. Horror of Earthquakes, volcanoes, heat waves, Pakistan floods, landslides and droughts killed at least quarter million people around the world in 2010.

Earthquakes not just hit in Haiti but China, Chile, Turkey and New Zealand. Indonesia's Mount Merapi volcano erupted several times, while an earthquake struck off of the coast of Papua.  In April a volcano in Iceland affected air traffic and disrupted air travel for millions throughout the world. In 2010 Volcanoes also struck Congo, Guatemala, Ecuador and Philippines creating panic and making people run towards safe areas.

It was also a year of man-made disasters; BP’s oil spill, the worst in US history-flooded into the Gulf of Mexico, we are reminded of just how environmentally destructive humans can be. Miners struck underground in China, New Zealand and West Virginia.

During the second half of 2010, Pakistan and the world watched in dismay as more water received by the plains and plateaus across the country increased the flow of raging rivers till it flooded even the cannels. The immediate blow to human lives, 1700 dead, was not comparable to the 2005 earthquake but the scale and scope of damage and destruction was much larger and widespread. The settlements and livelihoods of 21 million people were virtually washed away.

Last week during my third visit to Pakistan flood zone, I witnessed farmers who lost their seed, inputs and the opportunity to cultivate the winter crops. Flood water has not yet receded in many areas. In Sindh, due to geographical factors, the water will stay longer.

More people were killed worldwide by natural disasters in 2010 than have been killed in terrorism attacks in the past 40 years combined.

“It just seemed like it was back-to-back and it came in waves,” said Craig Fugate, who heads the U.S. Federal Emergency Management Agency. It handled a record number of disasters in 2010.

“The term ’100-year event’ really lost its meaning this year.”

And we have ourselves to blame most of the time, scientists and disaster experts say.

"It's a form of suicide, isn't it? We build houses that kill ourselves (in earthquakes). We build houses in flood zones that drown ourselves," said Roger Bilham, a professor of geological sciences at the University of Colorado. "It's our fault for not anticipating these things. You know, this is the Earth doing its thing."

Lets hope for a better and disaster-free 2011.