The Death Map for the U.S.

Nature still is a factor in many deaths in the U.S. The International Journal of Health Geographics recently put out the "Death Map" for the U.S. A quick summary of the map shows that more people are killed by nature in coastal areas of the South (think hurricanes), the Northern Plains (really bad winters), Southwest Texas (desert) and the lower Mississippi River (flooding).

Overall, it is not the big events like Hurricane Katrina that drive risk, but those chronic natural disasters (like cold winters) that make a particular place more dangerous than another.

See the Death Map