There has been relatively little research on the economic impacts of natural disasters to date. This paper reports findings of a sUidy of the Philippines which is intended as a contribution in filling that gap. Findings include the following: • The Philippines experiences all major types of naUiral hazard and is widely acknowledged as one of the most hazard-prone countries in the world. Moreove...

OBJECTIVE This article outlines a number of important areas in which public health can contribute to making overall disaster management more effective. This article discusses health effects of some of the more important sudden impact natural disasters and potential future threats (e.g., intentional or deliberately released biologic agents) and outlines the requirements for effective emergency m...

This paper examines the recent experience with insurance and other risk-financing instruments in developing countries in order to gain insights into the effectiveness of these instruments in reducing economic insecurity. Insurance and other risk financing strategies are viewed as efforts to recover from negative income shocks through risk pooling and transfer. Specific examples of public-privat...

Michel Masozera⁎, Melissa Bailey, Charles Kerchner Gund Institute for Ecological Economics, The University of Vermont, Rubenstein School of Environment and Natural Resources, Johnson House, 617 Main Street, Burlington, VT, 05405-0080, USA Master of Public Administration Program, The University of Vermont, 103 Morrill Hall, Burlington, VT, 05405, USA Department of Community Development and Appli...

Prior research shows that when people perceive the risk of some hazardous event to be low, they are unlikely to engage in mitigation activities for the potential hazard. We believe one factor that can lower inappropriately (from a normative perspective) people's perception of the risk of a hazard is information about prior near-miss events. A near-miss occurs when an event (such as a hurricane)...

The promotion of human health must be embedded in the wider pursuit of ecosystem health. Interventions will be impaired if ecosystem-linked determinants of health are not taken into account. In the extreme case, if ecosystems lose their capacity for renewal, society will lose life support services. Essential features of ecosystem health are the capacity to maintain integrity and to achieve reas...

This study intends to understand how disaster is related to countries’ production efficiency using a sample of 137 countries over 1980–2011. We analyze the effect of the number of man-made and natural disaster occurrences on countries’ technological change (swift of the frontier) and technological catch-up (distribution of efficiencies). The results reveal an inverted “U” shape relationship bet...

Mexico's vast human and environmental diversity offers an initial framework for comprehending some of the prevailing great disparities between rich and poor. Its socio-economic constructed vulnerability to climatic events serves to expand this understanding. Based on a spatial econometric model, this paper tests the contribution of natural disasters to stimulating the emigration process in vuln...

Can food prices cause social unrest? Throughout history, riots have frequently broken out, ostensibly as a consequence of high food prices. Using monthly data at the international level, this paper studies the impact of food prices – both food price levels volatility – on social unrest. Because food prices and social unrest are jointly determined, data on natural disasters are used to identify ...

The United Kingdom uses the Defence Lines of Development (DLOD) framework to analyse and understand the key components and costs of a military capability. Rooted in the Resource Based View (RBV) of a firm, an adapted DLOD approach is employed to explore, analyse and discuss the preparedness, planning and response strategies of two markedly different countries (Australia and Bangladesh) when fac...