Figure 1.18: New displacements by disasters by region, 2016 Europe and Central Asia 0.2% - 0.1m East Asia and Pacific 68.0% - 16.4m Middle East and North Africa 0.5% - 0.1m TOTAL 24.2m Sub-Saharan Africa 4.3% - 1.0m North America 5.0% - 1.2m Latin America and the Caribbean 7.3% - 1.8m South Asia 14.8% - 3.6m Source: IDMC, with World Bank data The Philippines experienced very high levels of displacement again, both in absolute terms and relative to population size. There were 5.9 million new displacements, including the two largest events of the year, brought on by typhoons Nock-Ten, known locally as Nina, which made landfall on 25 December, and Haima, known locally as Lawin, in October. The data is far from comprehensive, but most people appear to have been able to return home relatively quickly. That said, based on the number of people still sheltering in evacuation centres, around 31,000 were still displaced a month after Haima struck, and around 400 a month after Nock-Ten.113 The 3.6 million new displacements in South Asia in 2016 represented a drop of more than half from the 2015 figure of 7.9 million. Sixty-seven per cent, or 2.4 million, were in India, most of them associated with monsoon season floods in the state of Bihar that led to more than 1.6 million displacements between mid-July and October. Cyclone Roanu brought Sri Lanka its heaviest rainfall in more than 25 years. Widespread flooding and landslides were reported in 22 out of 25 districts in May, killing 64 people, forcing around 500,000 to evacuate and leaving some 30,000 homes in need of repair or reconstruction.114 Six months on, thousands of people were still living in camps where they faced deteriorating health conditions as they awaited relocation to housing in safer areas.115 In absolute terms, the large and populous countries of China, the Philippines and India had the highest numbers of displacements. When considered relative to the population size, however, the exposure and vulnerability of small, low-lying coastal and island countries to tropical storms and flooding becomes clear. Fiji and Tonga in the Pacific and Haiti, Belize and Cuba in the Caribbean accounted for five of the 10 countries with the largest per capita disaster displacements (see figure 1.19). Some events in these countries were also among the 10 largest events of the year in relation to population size (see figure 1.15). The mass evacuation of 1,079,000 people in six eastern provinces of Cuba ahead of Hurricane Matthew in October was the largest, with almost one in 10 inhabitants forced or obliged to leave their homes and shelter in safer locations (see spotlight, p.34). Cyclone Winston, the strongest southern hemisphere storm on record, struck Fiji in February. In many of the hardest hit areas, people had been struggling before the storm with drought and water shortages exacerbated by El Niño. More than 62,000 people were displaced and took shelter in evacuation sites. Despite an emphasis on “building back safer” and increased attention to protection needs in the country, several thousand people in the worst-affected areas were still living in tents or temporary shelters a year later.116 ON THE GRID: Global internal displacement in 2016 37