Disaster Impacts: Implications and Policy Responses

Disasters arising from natural hazards affect millions of people every year, killing tens of thousands and causing major economic losses. They disproportionately affect poor people and poor countries and are a threat to the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals. A root cause is the vulnera...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Social research 2008-10, Vol.75 (3), p.937-954
Main Author: Basher, Reid
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Climate change
Climate change adaptation
Communities
Construction
Developing countries
Disaster management
Disaster risk
Disasters
Earthquakes
Economic development
Emergency preparedness
Emissions
Environmental management
Environmental policy
Environmental science
Floods
GDP
Gross Domestic Product
Health hazards
Hurricanes
International Cooperation
LDCs
Natural Disasters
Natural hazards
Planning
Political finance
Political sociology
Political systems, parties and institutions
Politics
Poverty
Public health
Rewards
Risk
Risk and disasters sociology
Risk reduction
Seismic engineering
Social Inequality
Social research
Sociology
Sociology of knowledge and sociology of culture
Sociology of leisure and mass culture
The Impact of Disasters on Human Development
Trends
Victimology
Vulnerability
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Summary:Disasters arising from natural hazards affect millions of people every year, killing tens of thousands and causing major economic losses. They disproportionately affect poor people and poor countries and are a threat to the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals. A root cause is the vulnerability of communities to natural hazards, often associated with poverty, social and economic disadvantage, environmental exploitation, and insufficient awareness, information, and political interest. Too often, disaster risk is not factored into planning and management, despite the ready availability of the necessary knowledge, tools and policy frameworks to reduce the risks. Moreover it is likely that global warning will increase the number and intensity of hazard events in future. Recognizing these issues, in 2005 Governments agreed on the landmark Hyogo Framework for Action, which seeks to achieve a substantial reduction in disaster losses by 2015. Progress is slow, however, and a greatly scaled-up effort will be needed to achieve this outcome and to avoid an unnecessarily risky and dangerous future for the countless communities worldwide. Adapted from the source document.
ISSN:0037-783X
1944-768X
1944-768X
DOI:10.1353/sor.2008.0019