Natural disasters are devastating no matter where they occur, but countries and cultures react and react and rebuild differently. Religion, healthcare, politics, development and national budget all effect how a country reacts after the devastation of a natural disaster. Whether it be a hurricane, tornado, tsunami, earthquake or any other type of natural disaster people’s lives and in many cases whole countries or at least parts are changed forever. Countries that are less developed are extra vulnerable when natural disasters hit.
They do not have building and infrastructure that can withstand the forces of a natural disaster and struggle to fund the rebuilding effort. The poorer people in less developed countries are effected the most by natural disasters. There are numerous explanations and definitions for what makes a natural disaster. A strong definition is, “a disaster is an event that has a big impact on society. It is a hazardous event that disrupts the workings of society. It may or may not lead to deaths, but it typically has severe economic impacts.” Alcántara-Ayala, I. (2002).
The main points from this definition are that it is hazardous, disrupts the workings of society, may or may not lead to deaths, and that it has economic impacts. Disrupting the working of society could include people not being able to get to work due destroyed roads or damage to the places they work. Luckily not all-natural disasters lead to death but there could still be numerous injuries to deal with. All these effects are part of the economic impacts.
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If infrastructure most be rebuilt that effects the economy. Same if people cannot get to work or no longer have a place to work. All parts of a natural disaster affect the economy is some way. Natural disasters are associated with and responsible for economic loss. With the recent increase in frequency of economically devastating natural disasters economic loss is becoming and increasing issue.
Many of these natural disasters hit less developed and third world countries which are more likely to feel long term effects of these natural disasters. Natural disasters strike developing countries more than anywhere else. It has been found that “between 1970 and 2002, out of a total number of 6436 natural disasters 77% have taken place in the developing world”. (Strobl, E. 2012) While a large percentage of natural disasters occur in the developing world they also tend to reoccur repeatedly in the same area.
When this happens, it is increasingly hard to rebuild because more damage is done before they have recovered from the last disaster or shorty after recovery. “For instance, since 1984 Dominica has been struck by 9 different hurricanes, while Hurricane Georges caused losses of around 400 million US$, constituting over 140% of GDP, in the Caribbean islands of St. Kitts and Nevis in 1998.”( Strobl, E. 2012) This amount of destruction makes it hard for developing countries to get ahead.
In some cases, natural disasters can temporarily hinder the economy and then later boost it as large amount of relief funds go into rebuilding infrastructure. A system has been crated that ranks countries based on their environmental resilience. To calculate the environmental resilience, score the system has to take many factors into account. The main factors are “issues related to air, water, sanitation, environment, and energy.” (Moghim, S., & Garna, R. K. 2019)
These factors help calculate how a country will react when faced with a natural disaster. The study was conducted on 141 countries to classify them into multiple levels of resilience. The resilience levels are “very low, low, moderate, high, and very-high score”. (Moghim, S., & Garna, R. K. 2019) When ranked with these scores it was clear which countries were less developed and more developed. The developing countries were almost always in the low resilience group and the more developed countries were in the high resilience group.
This shows how much more prepared highly developed countries are to face natural disasters. They can provide access to food, water, energy and provide safe sanitation. Developed countries have the money to repair infrastructure more quickly and efficiently so their economies can return to what they were before the natural disaster. Natural disasters can help point out areas that countries are lacking such as treatment for mental health. After the Haiti earthquake in 2010 it became clear that mental health and disorders were not being properly addressed. In Haiti mental health was treated with religion and traditional healing practices found within their culture.
After the earthquake hit they found “The earthquake has been a catalyst for the identification and integration of mental health as an integral part of the post-earthquake Haitian health care system, lack of resources notwithstanding. Innovative care delivery models are needed to build a mental health system of care. The development of long-term services should integrate strong traditional perceptions and beliefs, religious influences, and contemporary biopsychosocial approaches.” (Raviola, et al. 2013) The earthquake was the catalyst that brought attention to mental health and made it known that Haiti needed to find new and improved ways to treat mental health issues.
This shows although natural disasters cause a lot of injury and destruction some good things can come out of them. After all the destruction of natural disasters there can be a period of lawlessness as countries struggle to rebuild there government along with support rescue efforts and rebuild. After the earthquake in Haiti many women fell victim to sexual violence. Along with the horrors of the act itself many women developed PTSD from the sexual violence. In Cite Soleil there was a sexual violence epidemic following the earthquake.
It was found that “over 50% of females are reportedly victims of SV via non-intimate partners/strangers (NPSV)”.( Rahill, et al. 2015) This is alarming information because although it is known that sexual violence is a problem all over the world something further needs to be done if such a large percentage of women are experiencing sexual violence after a natural disaster. It has been concluded that “Following earthquakes, there should be vigilance by public health officials and rescue teams for prevention of SV against women.
Women who survive SV in Haiti should be provided access to trauma-informed care that addresses biological consequences of the SV, as well as biological, neurological and psychological sequelae”.( Rahill, et al. 2015) Preventing sexual violence must become part of the rescue effort following natural disasters to prevent those who have already lost everything from suffering even more.
Although developed countries have more resources natural disasters can still be deadly and effect a countless amount of lives. When a natural disaster strikes a developed country the response and what could have been done better or what could have been done to prevent become highly criticized. In the United States of America one of the deadliest natural disasters in recent history was hurricane Katrina.
There were many problems during hurricane Katrina,” A breach of levees and the subsequent flooding of the city of New Orleans resulted in the displacement of more than 250,000 people. The death toll exceeded 1800 persons and total damages were estimated to exceed $125 billion”. ( Baker, C. R. 2014) These devastating numbers caused many to criticize response efforts and criticize the preventive action to prevent flooding in the event of a natural disaster like hurricane Katrina. One of the most prevalent complaints was that the government officials did not act responsibly in representing the victims. Many of victims were poor, black and elderly.
There was civil unrest due to lack of supplies for those seeking refuge in the city and the lack of the ability to keep order by the police. ( Baker, C. R. 2014). All the problems seen in New Orleans during and after hurricane Katrina show that even in developed countries disaster relief is still not always fair and equal. Race and wealth continue to play a factor on the relief given to natural disaster victims. In 2010 an earthquake and tsunami struck Chile at 3:43 am.
It was the sixth largest earthquake ever recorded by humans. It resulted in the death of 500 people and $30 billion damage in United States currency. Certain people were affected more than others”, the tsunami was particularly devastating for the traditional small-scale fishermen; the livelihoods of more than 24,000 fishermen were directly or indirectly affected” (Moreno, et al. 2018). However, devastating a natural disaster is community resilience is key to survival. Due to resilience a small fishing community called El Morro survived with no human losses.
In cases of resilience communities survive by helping themselves instead of waiting on help to arrive. If communities are active instead of passive before during and after a disaster their odds of survival increase. When people helped each other there were less casualties. It was found that “ The small number of casualties in fishing communities was the result of the spontaneous activation of collective actions due to the government’s slow response”. Moreno, et al. 2018)
The government response was slow, but the communities managed to rescue themselves while waiting for government supplies and aid. Resilience can be applied in all cultures and countries before, during, and after a natural disaster. In times of natural disaster marginalized people become socially more vulnerable. In 2011 The Great East Japan Earthquake and Tsunami wreaked havoc on Tohoko region. The most effected group was a small group of Thai women who lived in Ishinomaki city.
Before the Tsunami hit they were already struggling with life and after the destruction it got even worse. Studying their conditions makes helps represent vulnerability during disaster times. They needed more assistance than others because they were already struggling so much before the disaster. It was found that “They needed assistance in both the physical aspect to reboot their living condition and mental assistance to recover from the stress of the tsunami experience”. (Pongponrat, et al. 2018). This stresses that the worse the living conditions before a disaster the harder it will be to respond afterwards.
These women were part of a marginalized group just like the people in New Orleans after hurricane Katrina. Social standing does make an impact on the difficulty recuperating from natural disaster. Natural disasters have long term impacts on those who survive and their children. The 1988 earthquake in Nepal has had long term effects on educational outcomes of children.
The negative effects are only seen in children from the lower castes groups and not in those from the higher castes. In places that were effected by the earthquake “ infants belonging to low caste groups are 17.6% less likely to complete middle school and 11.9% less likely to complete high school”.( Paudel, et al. 2018) Less children getting proper educations lead to a fall in human capitol in Nepal and led to more division between the higher and lower castes. Once again, the poor and less fortunate people are those impacted the most by natural disasters in both the short and long term.
Another social issue affected by natural disasters is Income inequality. In Sri Lanka a study has been conducted on income inequality after natural disasters. After natural disaster income inequality surprisingly decreases. This is because the people who have less have less to lose and often make little money to begin with. They are employed by others and many are unskilled day laborers who find more work during the reconstruction effort after the disaster. People who are wealthier often rely on income from things like manufacturing and due to destruction of infrastructure needed to manufacture their income comes down.
After an earthquake average house hold income fell by 14 percent but income inequality did not change because the poor were making more and the rich were making less.( Keerthiratne, et al. 2018). Income inequality becoming more equal can be seen as one positive for the poor after a natural disaster however it does not outweigh the negatives.
Natural disasters have devastating effects on the countries they hit and leave lasting tolls on the communities and culture for years. No matter where they strike natural disasters have terrible consequences, but it is the worst for less developed countries and their poorer citizens. Most of the natural disaster hit third world countries and continue to hit them over and over.
Their economies are slower to recover, and they do not have the resources to provide needed aid to their people in a timely manner. Natural disaster effect mental and physical health and reduce the safety of women from sexual violence. Children from disaster zones are less likely to have a proper education and gaps between societal classes can be widened. More research must be done to figure out how to effectively combat the extra hardships placed on natural disaster survivors in less developed countries. By understanding the problems new recovery efforts must be implemented to help countries recover from natural disasters.
References
- Alcántara-Ayala, I. (2002). Geomorphology, natural hazards, vulnerability and prevention of natural disasters in developing countries. Geomorphology,47(2-4), 107-124. doi:10.1016/s0169-555x(02)00083-1
- Strobl, E. (2012). The economic growth impact of natural disasters in developing countries: Evidence from hurricane strikes in the Central American and Caribbean regions. Journal of Development Economics,97(1), 130-141. doi:10.1016/j.jdeveco.2010.12.002
- Moghim, S., & Garna, R. K. (2019). Countries classification by environmental resilience. Journal of Environmental Management,230, 345-354. doi:10.1016/j.jenvman.2018.09.090
- Raviola, G., Severe, J., Therosme, T., Oswald, C., Belkin, G., & Eustache, F. E. (2013). The 2010 Haiti Earthquake Response. Psychiatric Clinics of North America,36(3), 431-450. doi:10.1016/j.psc.2013.05.006
- Rahill, G. J., Joshi, M., Lescano, C., & Holbert, D. (2015). Symptoms of PTSD in a sample of female victims of sexual violence in post-earthquake Haiti. Journal of Affective Disorders,173, 232-238. doi:10.1016/j.jad.2014.10.067
- Baker, C. R. (2014). Breakdowns of accountability in the face of natural disasters: The case of Hurricane Katrina. Critical Perspectives on Accounting,25(7), 620-632. doi:10.1016/j.cpa.2014.02.005
- Moreno, J., Lara, A., & Torres, M. (2018). Community resilience in response to the 2010 tsunami in Chile: The survival of a small-scale fishing community. International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction. doi:10.1016/j.ijdrr.2018.10.024
- Pongponrat, K., & Ishii, K. (2018). Social vulnerability of marginalized people in times of disaster: Case of Thai women in Japan Tsunami 2011. International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction,27, 133-141. doi:10.1016/j.ijdrr.2017.09.047
- Paudel, J., & Ryu, H. (2018). Natural disasters and human capital: The case of Nepal’s earthquake. World Development,111, 1-12. doi:10.1016/j.worlddev.2018.06.019
- Keerthiratne, S., & Tol, R. S. (2018). Impact of natural disasters on income inequality in Sri Lanka. World Development,105, 217-230. doi:10.1016/j.worlddev.2018.01.001
