There are two separate reasons why we can expect to see the scale of transport disasters increasing - the sheer size of the vehicles used to transport people around the globe and the number of people travelling.

For example, the world's worst ever plane diaster was when two planes collided on the tarmac at the old Tenerife airport, Canary Islands in 1977 resulting in 583 fatalities. The Japan Air Lines crash at Mount Osutaka, Japan in 1985 with 520 fatalities is the worst single plane disaster. Today the "superjumbo" will carry 800 people.

In 2008, data reported by EMDAT - The International Emergency Disasters Database, listed 190 transport disasters with over 5,200 fatalities. Of those 44% perished on roads, and 39% on water.

2008s worst ferry disaster occurred on June 21 in the Philippines, when the M/V Princess of the Stars foundered and capsized, taking over 800 lives. Asia and Oceania is historically the worst afflicted region for transport disasters on water with overcrowded ferries being commonplace.

The worst air disaster in 2008 was the MD82 crash in Madrid, Spain which claimed 154 lives in August, some disaster management companies were based in the area for over 4 months supporting the company and relatives of the passengers and crew.

Of the 111 road transport disasters reported by EMDAT 12 had casualty lists of 40 and above. 70 people perished in the worst rail disaster near Zibo, Shandong province, China.