poverty and natural disasters

Population, Poverty, and Vulnerability: Mitigating the Effects of Natural Disasters

Mitch is considered to be the most powerful hurricane to have hit Central America and the Caribbean in the last two centuries as well as one of the most destructive natural disasters of recent times. Its passage exposed the underlying vulnerability of this region and threatened the very fabric of the societies affected. Not only did it test these societies’ capacity to face critical issues, but...

Natural Disasters

Disasters and Development: Natural Disasters, Credit Constraints and Economic Growth

We demonstrate, using a simple two-period equilibrium model of the economy, the potential effects of extreme event occurrences such as natural or humanitarian disasters on economic growth over the mediumto long-term. In particular, we focus on the effect of such shocks on investment. We examine two polar cases; an unconstrained economy where agents have access to perfect capital markets, versus...

Globalization and Natural Disasters: An

The increased global exchange of merchandise, services, and capital is a key characteristic of the contemporary business environment. International firms position themselves to gain competitive advantage from opportunities offered in this larger and more open economic system. Similarly, governments reap rewards from firms that establish operations within their borders. There are strong argument...

Natural Disasters and Human Mobility

This paper reviews the effect of natural disasters on human mobility or migration. Although there is an increase of natural disasters and migration recently and more patterns to observe, the relationship remains complex. While some authors find that disasters increase migration, others show that they have only a marginal or no effect or are even negative. Human mobility appears to be an insuran...

Epidemics after Natural Disasters

The relationship between natural disasters and communicable diseases is frequently misconstrued. The risk for outbreaks is often presumed to be very high in the chaos that follows natural disasters, a fear likely derived from a perceived association between dead bodies and epidemics. However, the risk factors for outbreaks after disasters are associated primarily with population displacement. T...