To Extremes Dossier on Poverty

8/3/2019 To Extremes Dossier on Poverty

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The science of extremes:

Poverty

The richer the country, the less suffering/financial loss it tends to experience after extremeevents.

More people die in disasters in poorer nations than in rich ones.

From the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies 2009 disaster

report:

Highly developed countries: 66 deaths per disaster

Moderately developed countries: 353 deaths per disaster

Least developed countries: 705 deaths per disaster

When disaster strikes, richer countries suffer bigger total economic losses but in terms of

proportion of GDP losses in developing nations are larger:

Dominica lost 20% of its GDP in hurricanes David and Allen

Turkey lost 7% of its GDP in the Kocaeli and Duzce earthquakes

Japan lost 2% of its GDP after the 2011 Tohoku earthquake, the biggest known

economic loss in a natural disaster

Natural disasters tend to affect a variety of aspects of life in poor areas.

After a drought in Ethiopia in 1984, school enrollments fell and children grew more

slowly due to poor nutrition (UN International Strategy for Risk Reduction, 2009)

Poor areas often experience the brunt of heat waves more directly than more economically

secure areas:

Residents of poor neighborhoods are generally at higher risk of heat-related illnesses in

part because they are more likely to have chronic diseases such as heart or lung diseas( “Heat, mortality and level of ubranisation,” Sheridan 2003)

“Minorities and communities of low socio-economic status are more frequently situatedin higher heat stress neighborhoods (Harlan et al 2006). Protective measures are oftenless available for those of lower socioeconomic status, or even if air conditioning is



available, some of the most vulnerable populations will choose not to use it out of concern over the cost.

Urban neighborhoods face the urban heat island effect.

Heat absorbing surfaces and buildings make most cities warmer than the surrounding area

Figure above: Harlan et al looked at eight neighborhoods in Phoenix, AZ and found that

poorer people tended to live in hotter neighborhoods. One reason is vegetation,

which provides shade and moisture, and is more readily found and maintained in more

wealthy areas.

Above, color in the lower maps shows level of vegetation.

The neighborhood on the left is Historic Anglo Phoenix, with a median income of $77,000.

The one on the right is Black Canyon Freeway, with a median income of $26,000.

Poor people in rural areas can be as vulnerable to heat as those in cities. ( “Heat, mortality and

level of ubranisation,” Sheridan 2003)

Economic development can actually make certain regions more vulnerable to disasters.



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As areas that receive much rain or sit in a flood plain are developed, impervious surfaces

such as asphalt or roofs can speed the transport of water in urban settings, exacerbating

flooding.

As with developed nations, the impact of disasters on developing nations depends greatly o

the response of that country, which relies on political decisions and socioeconomic realities

Compare the response and impact of two hurricanes that hit Mexico in October of 2005:

Hurricane Stan (Oct 1-13, 2005) Wilma (Oct 19-24, 2005)

Strength Grew from tropical storm to

Category 1 hurricane

Category 5

Mexican

area hit

Chiapas rural region (storm also

hit Guatemala and El Salvador)

Cancun tourism area

Mexicans

affected

2 million ~125,00O

Alert and

Preparation

Evacuation began after 98 rivers

were flooded and 800

communities were affected;

100,000 people fled

Equipment pre-situated before storm ma

landfall; 98,000 residents and 27,000

tourists were evacuated

Aftermath 10% of the 10,200 houses

affected by Stan were rebuilt after

a year.

Water, electricity, communications an

health services were reestablished

immediately in part because of a concer

effort across government ministries

Result of

storm

Chiapas experienced extensive

damage and lacked insurance or

recovery services.

Cancun’s tourists and inhabitants wer

evacuated efficiently; hotels and loca

services were restored in two months

(Sources: Several reports of the National Hurricane Center, The International Disaster Database,)

Explore Data on Poverty and Disasters

The UN’s Global Assessment Report on Disaster Risk Reduction includes helpful interactiv

access to myriad datasets on disaster exposure and risk

Ibarrarán, M., M. Ruth, S. Ahmad, and M. London, 2009: Climate change and natural

disasters: macroeconomic performance and distributional impacts. Environment,



Development and Sustainability , 11, 549-569. A useful review of the inequality of disaste

including a dataset of disaster losses in 70 countries

Documents

To Extremes Dossier on Poverty