Political Economy of Large Natural Disasters With Special Reference to Developing Countries

by Albala-Bertrand, J. M.

• ISBN13: 9780198287650
• ISBN10: 0198287658
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 1993-05-27
• Publisher: Clarendon Press

Summary

This book sets out to develop a new framework for the analysis of disaster situations in developing countries. In doing so, it challenges many of the accepted wisdoms of disaster theory upon which policy prescriptions are built. The author insists that although disasters are a problem of development, they are not necessarily a problem for development. What we should be looking at are the underlying social and economic processes within developing countries which structure the impact of natural disasters, rather than atdisasters as unforeseen events requiring large scale intervention.

Table of Contents

List of Figures
List of Tables
Abbreviations
Preface
Introduction	p. 1
Analytical Framework	p. 8
Natural Disasters	p. 8
Disaster Situation	p. 9
Disaster Impact	p. 11
Disaster Responses	p. 20
Interference	p. 32
Disaster Statistics and Patterns	p. 39
Data Sources: Institutional Problems	p. 39
Disaster Assessment: The Unreliability of Figures	p. 40
Global Patterns and Trends	p. 44
Sectoral Patterns of Direct Effects	p. 46
Patterns of Response Sources	p. 51
Effects of Disaster Situations on Macroeconomic Variables	p. 56
A Sample of Disaster Situations	p. 56
Analysis	p. 57
Methodology	p. 62
Main Performance Aggregates	p. 63
Investment and Sectoral Outputs	p. 69
Public Finance	p. 77
Balance of Payments	p. 79
Conclusions	p. 86
Vulnerability	p. 90
Physical Vulnerability: Description	p. 91
Social Vulnerability: Processes	p. 92
Overall Vulnerability	p. 101
Conclusions	p. 102
Indirect Disaster Effects and In-built Responses	p. 104
Disarticulation of Household Conditions	p. 104
Disarticulation of the States of Health and Nutrition	p. 106
Disarticulation of the Economic Circuit	p. 112
Disarticulation of Public Activities	p. 129
Disaster-Response Motivations	p. 141
Individual Relief Motivation	p. 141
Public Motivation	p. 151
International Motivation	p. 153
Public and International Decision Processes	p. 155
Final Effects on Output: A Simple Macromodel	p. 161
Main Rules of Natural Disasters	p. 162
Overall Effect of Capital Loss on Aggregate Output	p. 164
Overall Effect of Disaster Response on Aggregate Output	p. 170
Speed of Recovery	p. 173
UNDRO's 'ECLA Estimate'	p. 175
Effects of Disaster Situations on Economy and Society	p. 182
A Record of Studies and Some Evidence	p. 182
General Observations about Effects	p. 196
Conclusions	p. 202
Appendices	p. 206
Bibliography	p. 237
Glossary	p. 254
Index	p. 257
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