Read all posts for ‘natural disasters’

Natural disasters occur in a political space.  Although events beyond our control may trigger a disaster, the level of government preparedness and response greatly determines the extent of suffering incurred by the affected population.  We use a political economy model of disaster prevention,  supported by case studies and preliminary empirics […]

This paper explores the effect of natural disasters on conflict. Disasters disrupt daily lives and social systems and call into question prevailing social and political arrangements. Directly and indirectly they create the conditions for instability and conflict by exacerbating social grievances and resource scarcities, and accelerating changes in social systems. […]

This paper sets out an examination of natural disaster amongst small island developing states (SIDS), and presents a framework for assessing the interaction of global pressures and local dynamics in the production of human vulnerability. Change at the global level is found to be a source of new opportunities as […]

EM-DAT provides a database for assessment and rational decision-making in disaster situations. For example, it helps policymakers identify disaster types that are most common in a given country and have had significant historical impacts on specific human populations. Read more  

The International Human Development Indicators have a couple of natural disaster indicators to incorporate with other metrics. Read more