Why Do People Die in Earthquakes? The Costs, Benefits and Institutions of Disaster Risk Reduction in Developing Countries

Every year, around 60,000 people die worldwide in natural disasters. The majority of the deaths are caused by building collapse in earthquakes, and the great majority occurs in the developing world. This is despite the fact that engineering solutio...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author:	Kenny, Charles
Format:	Policy Research Working Paper
Language:	English
Published:	2012
Subjects:	ACCESS TO INFORMATION ACCIDENTS AGED AIDS EPIDEMIC BUILDING CODE BUILDING CODES CATASTROPHIC EVENTS CAUSES OF DEATH CHILD HEALTH CHILD MORTALITY CHILD MORTALITY RATE CHILD MORTALITY RATES CITIZENS CLIMATE CHANGE COLLAPSED BUILDINGS CONSTRUCTION INDUSTRY COST EFFECTIVENESS DEATH RATES DEATH TOLL DEVELOPING COUNTRIES DEVELOPMENT NETWORK DISABILITY DISASTER DISASTER EVENTS DISASTER INSURANCE DISASTER MITIGATION DISASTER PLANNING DISASTER PREPAREDNESS DISASTER PREVENTION DISASTER REDUCTION DISASTER RELIEF DISASTER RISK DISASTER RISK REDUCTION DISASTER RISKS DISEASES DISSEMINATION DOCUMENTS EARLY WARNING EARLY WARNING SYSTEMS EARTHQUAKE EARTHQUAKES EDUCATED MOTHERS EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT EMERGENCY PREPAREDNESS ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH EVACUATION EXERCISES FATALITIES FEMALE EDUCATION FERTILITY FERTILITY RATE FERTILITY RATES FEWER PEOPLE FIRST AID FLOOD FLOOD CONTROL FLOOD DAMAGE FLOOD INSURANCE FLOOD PROTECTION FLOODED FLOODING FLOODS FORMAL EDUCATION HEALTH EFFECTS HEALTH FACILITIES HEALTH INTERVENTIONS HEALTH OUTCOMES HEALTH RISK HEALTH RISKS HOSPITALS HOUSEHOLD SIZE HUMAN LIFE HURRICANE HURRICANES IMPORTANCE OF EDUCATION INFORMATION CAMPAIGNS INJURIES INSTITUTIONAL CAPACITY INSURANCE INSURERS INTERNATIONAL AGENCIES INTERVENTION LACK OF INFORMATION LACK OF KNOWLEDGE LEGAL STATUS LOCAL GOVERNMENTS LOW-INCOME COUNTRIES MALARIA MANDATES MORTALITY MORTALITY REDUCTION NATIONAL GOVERNMENT NATURAL CATASTROPHES NATURAL DISASTER NATURAL DISASTERS NATURAL HAZARD NATURAL HAZARDS NUMBER OF DEATHS NUTRITION PHYSICAL DAMAGE POLICY RESEARCH POLICY RESEARCH WORKING PAPER PRIMARY EDUCATION PRIMARY SCHOOL PROGRESS PROVISION OF SERVICES PUBLIC HEARINGS PUBLIC SAFETY QUALITY CONTROL RECONSTRUCTION REGULATORY AGENCIES REGULATORY REGIME RESCUE RESPONSE TO DISASTER RICHER COUNTRIES RISK OF DEATH SAFETY SAFETY MEASURES SAVINGS SCHOOL ATTENDANCE SCHOOL BUILDINGS SCHOOL CHILDREN SERVICE PROVIDERS SKILLED PROFESSIONALS SKILLED WORKERS STORM STORMS SURVIVORS SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT TSUNAMI TYPHOONS URBAN DEVELOPMENT URBAN POPULATION USE OF RESOURCES VACCINATION VICTIMS WAR WOMAN WORKERS
Online Access:	http://www-wds.worldbank.org/external/default/main?menuPK=64187510&pagePK=64193027&piPK=64187937&theSitePK=523679&menuPK=64187510&searchMenuPK=64187283&siteName=WDS&entityID=000158349_20090226130516 http://hdl.handle.net/10986/4042

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Summary:	Every year, around 60,000 people die worldwide in natural disasters. The majority of the deaths are caused by building collapse in earthquakes, and the great majority occurs in the developing world. This is despite the fact that engineering solutions exist that can almost completely eliminate the risk of such deaths. Why is this? The engineering solutions are both expensive and technically demanding, so that the benefit-cost ratio of such solutions is often unfavorable compared with other interventions designed to save lives in developing countries. Nonetheless, a range of public disaster risk-reduction interventions (including construction activities) are highly cost effective. The fact that such interventions often remain unimplemented or ineffectively executed points to a role for issues of political economy. Building regulations in developing countries appear to have limited impact in many cases, perhaps because of limited capacity and the impact of corruption. Public construction is often of low quality - perhaps for similar reasons. This suggests approaches that emphasize simple and limited disaster risk regulation covering only the most at-risk structures and that (preferably) can be monitored by non-experts. It also suggests a range of transparency and oversight mechanisms for public construction projects.

Why Do People Die in Earthquakes? The Costs, Benefits and Institutions of Disaster Risk Reduction in Developing Countries

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