DISASTER AND

DEVELOPMENT
Fiona Ibudi
[email protected]
Content

Preamble to the Disaster magnitude Vs

Development Disaster
presentation Level of Development

How Development can

How Disasters can lead How Disasters can
Disaster and LDC also increase
to development delay development
vulnerability

How development
programs can reduce
vulnerability
 Development:

Qualitative and quantitative improvement in the conditions

of living and general human welfare

Definitions
A state in which things are
improving; the result of
development activities.

Krimgold (1976) defined a disaster as a crisis that

overwhelms at least for a time people’s capacity to cope.
 What do we know about disaster
and human development?
Preamble

 The impacts of disasters vary enormously according to

the level of human development
 One way of analyzing disaster impacts is to compare
reported deaths and costs against the number of
disasters reported.
 This calculation reveals that natural and technological
disasters in developed countries killed an average of 44
persons per event.
 Disaster in developing countries in contrast killed an
average of 300 persons per event.
Preamble

 Estimated costs of damage, however, reveals the

opposite.
 Disasters in developed countries inflicted an average of
US $ 318 million worth of damage per event.
 This is over 11 times higher than the cost incurred per
disaster in developing countries (World Disaster Report)
 The implication of these figures is that rich countries
have more high-value infrastructure exposed to disaster
than poorer countries
Disaster magnitude Vs Dev’t Level

 The San Fernando Earthquake in California in 1971

registered 6.4 on the Richter Scale and a population of
7 million suffered minor damage and 58 deaths.
 Two years later an earthquake of the magnitude of 6.2
on the Richter Scale struck Managua and reduced the
city centre to rubble and killed 6,000 pple.
 What caused the disparity? Differences in the level of
development?.
 To San Fernando, the event was an earthquake and not
a major disaster, but to Managua, it was a major
disaster.
 
Disaster and Are disaster in developing countries increasing?
According to Cuny, the average number of natural
Development events occurring each year has not changed.

in the LDCs What has changed is the magnitude of death and
costs of each disaster. This has heightened due to
increased exposure to vulnerable conditions.
 The increase in disaster potential is one result of
the cycle of poverty common in developing
countries. The root causes of poverty which are
also the roots causes of vulnerability are the
increased marginalization of the population
caused by lack of resources or failure of
government to allocate resources to meet basic
needs of the expanding population.
Continued….

 Recognizing poverty as the primary cause of

vulnerability and disaster in developing countries is the
first step towards developing an understanding of the
need for change in the current disaster response
practices.
Linkage between Disaster and
Development
 How Disasters can lead to development:
 If the magnitude of disasters is an outgrowth of
underdevelopment, poverty and vulnerability, how can
we expect to reduce the impact with food, blankets and
tents, the traditional forms of assistance??
 Disasters provide opportunities for sustainable
development if root causes of disaster events are
understood and incorporated into reconstruction
programmes.
Linkage between Disaster and
Development
 Spending money on mitigation measures on the at-risk
areas outside the immediate disaster zone would
according to Kelman make a political point that
mitigation should happen before and not after we see
dead bodies. This would necessitate putting up disaster
resistance structures that can equally stimulate
development.
Linkage between Disaster and
Development
 Sustaining the intervention calls for strong
management structures that can equally stimulate
national development.
 Lessons learnt and possibilities for future happenings.
 Disasters can elevate the development potential of a
society at a risk for damage from a hazard. The political
impact of damage and disruption can be a catalyst for
change.
 Linkage between Disaster and
Development…
 Designing recovery programmes to reduce vulnerability.
 According to Margaret Arnold of the World Bank Hazard
Management Unit, more donors would need to see
disaster risk as a development issue and not a
humanitarian one
How Disasters can delay
development:
 Loss of resources e.g destruction of bridges
 Shifting of resources to emergency responses e.g COVID
situation in Uganda
 Depressing the investment and economic climate e.g
Countries that have experienced conflict have less levels
of development in comparison to those that are stable
 Loss of productivity
 Loss of employment
 Affecting the social functioning of the society.
How Development can also increase vulnerability

 Building dense urban settlements

 Developing hazardous sites/engaging in activities that
are hazardous.
 Degrading of environment
 Failures or accidents of technology
 Imbalancing the natural or social systems
Development increasing
Vulnerability cont’d
 According to Margaret Arnold of the World Bank Hazard
Management Unit , it has been realized that poorly
planned development can turn recurring natural
phenomena such as floods and earthquakes into
human and economic disasters.
 This means that reducing the risk of disaster must
become a higher priority for development programmes
than response strategies.
How development programs can
reduce vulnerability
 Strengthening of urban utility systems
 Using hazard-resistant building techniques
 Building of institutions and capacity of the local
authorities.
 Building and implementation of agricultural and
forestry programs.
Key take aways

 Disasters are more common in Low developing

countries due to high levels of vulnerability
 Disasters impact will vary depending on levels
of development
 Sustainable development is key in effectively
dealing with disasters.
Concluding citations: Vulnerability,
Disaster & Development
 This is the moment when we must build on the wealth
that open markets have created, and share its benefits
more equitably. Trade has been a cornerstone of our
growth and global development. But we will not be able
to sustain this growth if it favors the few, and not the
many. Barack Obama
Continued…..

 Constant development is the law of life, and a man who

always tries to maintain his dogmas in order to appear
consistent drives himself into a false position.
Mohandas Gandhi The development of civilization and
industry in general has always shown itself so active in
the destruction of forests that everything that has been
done for their conservation and production is
completely insignificant in comparison. Karl Marx
 END