Development and governance

• In developing and emerging countries people tend to have less power over their socio-political and physical environments than the more wealthy so risk vulnerability is greater as:

  • People and communities in developing and emerging countries only have access to livelihoods and resources that are insecure and difficult
  • They are likely to be a low priority for government when dealing with hazard mitigation
  • People who are economically and politically ‘on the edge’ are likely to lose confidence in their own local knowledge so rely more on government help, which may not work out as well
• People’s basic health and nutritional status correlates strongly with their ability to survive disruptions to their livelihood and normal well-being. It is an important measure of their resilience when dealing with the external shock from hazard events.

  There is also a clear relationship between nutrition and disease, which is often evident after a hazard impact (especially when people are forced to find shelter and come into close contact with one another). People who are undernourished and sick are at greater risk of disease as they have weaker immune systems
• There are several elements of development that relate to vulnerability and disaster risk, which broadly fit into a sustainability framework:

  • An economic component dealing with the creation of wealth and the improvement of quality of life that is equitably distributed
  • A social dimension in terms of health, education, housing and employment opportunities
  • An environmental strand that has a duty of care for resource usage and distribution, now and in the future.
  • A political component including values such as human rights, political freedom and democracy
• After the Haiti earthquake in 2010, 9000 people died from cholera and around 700,000 affected. The source of the 2010 outbreak is disputed but it centres around the Artibonite River, where most of the affected people had drunk water. There was suspicion among Haitians that a UN military base, located on a tributary of the river and home to peacekeepers from Nepal (who had come to help with the recovery) was actually the source of the disease. This was confirmed in 2011 by the UN who stated that there was ‘substantial evidence that the Nepalese troops had brought the disease to Haiti’.
• Development and cross-cutting factors

  Drought, violence and armed conflict may turn hazards into disasters. In addition, the incidence and risks of diseases, eg malaria, may interact with human vulnerability, worsening disaster risks brought about by urbanisation, climate change, violence and armed conflict. Cross-cutting factors are internal or external to the region or country in the context of disaster risk. Internal factors are often politically derived, whereas external factors may be longer term and much harder to manage or control, for example, climate change and the risk of drought.
• Haiti 2010 vs Indonesia 2018

  • magnitude - 7 vs 7.5
  • death toll - 160,000 vs 4400
  • GDP per capita - $660 vs 3120

  Levels of development and inequality were key factors for the different rates of survival
• The Global Assessment Report on Disaster Risk Reduction (2019) also suggests that urban segregation can generate new patterns of disaster risk. Low-income households are often forced to occupy hazard-exposed areas which have low land values. Such places have poor infrastructure and social protection; they are also likely to have high levels of environmental degradation.