Escaping starvation, diseases and wars, these were the reasons first sanctuary seekers ran to Holy places in foreign lands for help. This situation has not changed, though now , refugees turn to any country that will shelter them. The word ‘refugee’ is derived from the word refuge or to seek refuge. People flee to safe havens from life-threatening situations. Refugees are afflicted but may not be welcomed by host nations because many do not understand their plight. This paper will discuss the three root causes for the increasing number of refugees in the world. It will focus on religious persecution, wars and natural disasters. To understand why refugees leave their homeland, this paper will begin by discussing about religious persecution. …show more content…
Natural disasters are a nature’s events and are uncontrollable, although predictable. They include typhoons , rainy season flooding, tornadoes and tsunami. An article in the Guardian states that a study has revealed natural disaster has displaces three times as many people as war in 2013. An average of 27 million people a year or 42 million in total in 2010 have lost their homes ( Guardian.com,2014). A tsunami event that occurred in 2004 , called the Boxing Day Tsunami, displaced 1.7 million and injured half a million of souls. A total of 230,000 people were killed (Telegraph,2014). Tsunamis are giant ocean waves that are triggered by an earthquakes or volcanic eruptions. These ocean waves will grow in height as they travel inland, due to the depth of the ocean decreasing. The world responded with donations and relief efforts to countries affected which included Indonesia, Thailand, Somalia, Sri Lanka, Burma and Maldives. The world was left wide jawed as the toll of damage and lives affected or lost from these simultaneous disaster affecting the nations were rising. These high toll death number will continue to be a reality if cities prone to natural disaster continues to be overpopulated and the mass migration to urban areas are encouraged. Governments should discourage such efforts and implement shelters and emergency drills in such