Why Resilience Matters : The Poverty Impacts of Disasters

This paper presents empirical evidence of the profound and long-term damages from adverse natural events on poverty. It analyzes 30 years of macro-level damage data from disasters (including earthquakes, floods, and storms), according to income gro...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Rentschler, Jun E.
Format: Publications & Research
Language:English
en_US
Published: World Bank, Washington, DC 2014
Subjects:
Online Access:http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/2013/11/18503012/resilience-matters-poverty-impacts-disasters
http://hdl.handle.net/10986/16915
id okr-10986-16915
recordtype oai_dc
spelling okr-10986-169152021-04-23T14:03:33Z Why Resilience Matters : The Poverty Impacts of Disasters Rentschler, Jun E. poverty disasters resilience human capital This paper presents empirical evidence of the profound and long-term damages from adverse natural events on poverty. It analyzes 30 years of macro-level damage data from disasters (including earthquakes, floods, and storms), according to income groups, and shows that low-income countries incur disproportionately large damages relative to their assets. Furthermore, the paper reviews the micro-level evidence of disaster impacts on the livelihoods of the poorest households. The evidence suggests that the poor are significantly more vulnerable and exposed to the economic and human capital losses caused by disasters. It discusses detrimental long-term consequences for the income and welfare of the poor and the presence of poverty traps that result from damages to productive assets, health, and education. The roles of migration and ex-ante behavior are also discussed. In the context of climate change, the paper underscores the importance of considering the detrimental impacts of smaller but repeated crises, for instance caused by changes in local precipitation patterns. Lastly, the paper offers a brief discussion of policy options for strengthening resilience and highlights the need for further research for understanding the complex direct and indirect effects of disasters on the poor. 2014-02-05T14:10:02Z 2014-02-05T14:10:02Z 2013-11 http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/2013/11/18503012/resilience-matters-poverty-impacts-disasters http://hdl.handle.net/10986/16915 English en_US Policy Research Working Paper;No. 6699 CC BY 3.0 IGO http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/igo/ World Bank World Bank, Washington, DC Publications & Research Publications & Research :: Policy Research Working Paper
repository_type Digital Repository
institution_category Foreign Institution
institution Digital Repositories
building World Bank Open Knowledge Repository
collection World Bank
language English
en_US
topic poverty
disasters
resilience
human capital
spellingShingle poverty
disasters
resilience
human capital
Rentschler, Jun E.
Why Resilience Matters : The Poverty Impacts of Disasters
relation Policy Research Working Paper;No. 6699
description This paper presents empirical evidence of the profound and long-term damages from adverse natural events on poverty. It analyzes 30 years of macro-level damage data from disasters (including earthquakes, floods, and storms), according to income groups, and shows that low-income countries incur disproportionately large damages relative to their assets. Furthermore, the paper reviews the micro-level evidence of disaster impacts on the livelihoods of the poorest households. The evidence suggests that the poor are significantly more vulnerable and exposed to the economic and human capital losses caused by disasters. It discusses detrimental long-term consequences for the income and welfare of the poor and the presence of poverty traps that result from damages to productive assets, health, and education. The roles of migration and ex-ante behavior are also discussed. In the context of climate change, the paper underscores the importance of considering the detrimental impacts of smaller but repeated crises, for instance caused by changes in local precipitation patterns. Lastly, the paper offers a brief discussion of policy options for strengthening resilience and highlights the need for further research for understanding the complex direct and indirect effects of disasters on the poor.
format Publications & Research
author Rentschler, Jun E.
author_facet Rentschler, Jun E.
author_sort Rentschler, Jun E.
title Why Resilience Matters : The Poverty Impacts of Disasters
title_short Why Resilience Matters : The Poverty Impacts of Disasters
title_full Why Resilience Matters : The Poverty Impacts of Disasters
title_fullStr Why Resilience Matters : The Poverty Impacts of Disasters
title_full_unstemmed Why Resilience Matters : The Poverty Impacts of Disasters
title_sort why resilience matters : the poverty impacts of disasters
publisher World Bank, Washington, DC
publishDate 2014
url http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/2013/11/18503012/resilience-matters-poverty-impacts-disasters
http://hdl.handle.net/10986/16915
_version_ 1764434880230326272