Transcript Poverty and Disasters

The Poor Suffer the Most:
Dual Challenge of Poverty
and Disaster Reduction in
Latin America and the
Caribbean
Kari Keipi, Senior Specialist, IDB
Presentation at the VI Meeting of the Natural Disasters
Network
Joint Session with the Poverty Network, April 25th 2005
IDB Headquarters, Washington D.C.
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Poverty and Disasters
• People in low-income countries are four times as
likely to die in a natural disaster as people in
high-income countries
• The poor are more vulnerable to natural hazards
because poor people tend to:
– have less savings and lack financial flexibility
(impedes investing in disaster prevention and
financing of disaster recovery)
– live on marginal lands (urban and rural)
– lack land titles (no incentives to invest in
mitigating)
– have no means to built safe infrastructure
– not be warned of impeding disasters
– lack means of evacuation (when warned)
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Diagnosis:
Risk Profile for the Region
•
•
•
•
Average of 40
important disasters
annually in the region.
4 million people
affected
5,000 deaths
US$3.2 billion in direct
losses and an
estimated similar or
larger amount of
indirect losses.
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GNP and Disasters
Relationship Between Occurance of Natural Disasters and GDP
Growth in Ecuador
12%
10%
8%
6%
FEN
4%
FEN
2%
0%
-2%
-4%
Terremoto
-6%
-8%
1980
1982
1984
1986
1988
1990
1992
1994
1996
1998
2000
GDP Grow th %
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Life and death effects
of disasters
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Development trends and future
disasters
• “Losses per event will rise in the future, particularly in
rapidly growing urban areas, unless systematic efforts
are made to reduce vulnerability.” Jeffrey Sachs (2006),
Investing in Development: A practical plan to achieve the
Millennium Development Goals, p. 179.
• “...poverty and population pressure force growing
numbers of poor people to live in harm’s way—on flood
plains, in earthquake-prone zones and on unstable
hillsides.” UN Secretary General Kofi Annan (2004).
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The Cycle of Vulnerability
ECONOMIC
IMPACTS
POVERTY
MACRO-LEVEL
VULNERABILITY
MICRO-LEVEL
VULNERABILITY
DISASTER
NATURAL
HAZARD
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AGRAVATING FACTORS OF
VULNERABILITY
Natural resources
and environmental
deterioration
Inadequate
management of
natural resources
Population and
productive
activities overexposed to
hazards
Random
urban growth
Inadequate
territorial
management
Inadequate
development
model
Underestimation
of hazards
More vulnerable
constructions and
productive activities
Poor
construction
quality
Inadequate
capacity for risk
management
Weak risk
management
institutions
Population
incapable of
assessing its
vulnerability and
confronting
emergencies
Reactive and centralist
disaster attention
paradigms still prevail
Obsolete risk
management
legislation
Decision makers
lack awareness
and willingness
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Sustainable poverty reduction
must address disaster risk
• Land use planning (know risk, avoid settlements in
hazard prone areas, provide alternatives)
• Construct to reasonable standards (raise awareness,
build in accordance with the hazard environment)
• Increase savings opportunities
• Establish viable contingency plans at community level
• Consider (small) business continuity needs
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Sustainable poverty reduction
must address practices to
decrease vulnerability
• Hillside farming, slash and burn
techniques in rural areas which remove
soil cover could cause mudslides and
flooding from heavy rains
• Clogging of urban drainage or natural
run-off leads to flooding.
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The Indicators Program
• Indicators have on a pilot basis been
developed for 12 countries.
• Consists of four major measures (comprised
of composite indicators)
–
–
–
–
The Disaster Deficit Index (DDI)
The Local Disaster Index (LDI)
The Prevalent Vulnerability Index (PVI)
The Risk Management Index (RMI)
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PVI
• The Prevalent Vulnerability Index is made up of a
series of indicators that characterize prevalent
vulnerability conditions reflected in exposure in
prone areas, socioeconomic weaknesses and lack
of social resilience in general.
– Indicators of Exposure and Susceptibility
(PVIes)
– Indicators of Socioeconomic Fragility(PVIsf)
– Indicators of (Lack of) Resilience (PVIlr)
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PVI for Selected IDB
Member Countries
PVI (Aggregation of subindicators) 2000
JAM
56
SLV
33
48
GTM
34
27
42
TTO
78
27
46
ARG
CRI
70
31
55
39
CHL
15
0
19
15
20
LR
62
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SF
49
24
22
ES
60
28
29
COL
56
23
38
PER
61
23
35
M EX
63
35
DOM
ECU
65
44
45
40
60
80
100
120
140
160
180
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IDB Financial Instruments
BEFORE
Disaster Prevention
Facility: $5 million
Operations with risk
reduction components
or activities
Disaster Prevention
Fund
Technical Cooperations
EMERGENCY
AFTER
Immediate Emergency
Response Facilty: $20
million
Reconstruction
Re-orientaction of loans
under execution
Re-orientation of
loans under execution
Emergency Technical
Cooperation to the
Country Offices’
discretion: $200,000
Technical
Cooperations
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The IDB Disaster Prevention Fund
• This fund has been created by the Bank to facilitate
investments by countries in disaster prevention
• Fund to finance individual non-reimbursable operations,
including studies concerning the preparation and design
of prevention projects and components of loans in highrisk areas and sectors.
• Each individual grant is capped at US$ 1 million.
• The fund can be used to finance strategic interventions to
improve disaster prevention at local, national and
regional level.
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Meeting the dual challenge
• People’s vulnerability to natural hazards has a
strong influence on poverty in its multiple
dimensions, and vice versa.
 Poverty reduction strategies must address the risk to
natural hazards and integrate vulnerability reduction.
 Action is needed now. Current demographic trends (with
uncontrolled urban settlement) will lead to much
increased vulnerability in the future, unless systematic
efforts are made to reduce vulnerability.
 Collaboration is needed between urban and rural
planners, civil defense, and professionals responsible for
social services and investments.
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