Natural Disasters and Early Warning in the Context of Human Security

This chapter focuses on the impacts of natural phenomena such as earthquakes and hurricanes or typhoons in terms of fatalities and injuries. In particular, it frames such impacts in the context of human insecurity. Through a comparison of outcomes associated to natural events in developed and developing countries, the document puts forth the notion that developed countries are finding ways to enhance human security, manifested through the minimization of fatalities. Data on fatalities associated with earthquakes, hurricanes and storms spanning the last decades are analyzed in this context, and the notion of early warning is introduced as an example of a measure which can enhance human security in developing countries.