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- Permanent Link:
- http://dpanther.fiu.edu/dpService/dpPurlService/purl/FI13022751/00001
Notes
- Summary:
- This document is part of a United Nations global study assessing the relationship between disasters and poverty. It empirically analyzes this relationship using the case of Fiji to draw out policy implications for disaster risk management (DRM) efforts in the Pacific Island countries. Fiji, due to its geographic location and geophysical characteristics, has experienced 124 geological and hydro-meteorological disasters in 37 years, amounting to about US$532 million in direct costs. Alongside this history, poverty levels have increased dramatically since the 1970s, with 15% living in poverty in 1976, increasing to 35% in 2002-2003. The authors juxtapose these two sets of statistics, in light of the disproportionate affects that disasters have on the poor. Disasters generally plunge poor communities further into poverty, increasing their vulnerability to future disasters, thus creating a vicious cycle of greater poverty and increasingly more devastating disasters. In order to outline whether or not a relationship exists between disaster and poverty in the case of Fiji, the authors utilize a combination of both qualitative and quantitative approaches to analyze the nature, number, and frequency of disasters; a breakdown of Fiji’s economic development trends; study of household wellbeing; and an econometric assessment of the relationship between poverty and disaster at the aggregate national level. The study finds a two-way relationship between disaster and economic wellbeing in Fiji. While disasters increase poverty and reduce economic growth, increases in poverty also make disasters more disastrous. Outlining factors influencing the depth and breadth of the relationship, it finds that a relatively low GDP, low economic growth, and heavy dependence on the primary sector makes Fiji particularly sensitive to disasters. The study also finds that low-income households generally live in marginal areas most likely to be affected by disasters. Without adequate resources, these households are the least likely to respond to disaster and recover afterwards. It concludes with a recommendation that Fiji adopt a multi-pronged approach to development that combines DRM and poverty alleviation. It involves identifying the geographic distribution of the poor, adopting strategies to improve household income security and basic development conditions that reduce sensitivity to disaster, controlling economic and infrastructure development that exposes populations to disasters, and mainstreaming disaster risk reduction into development policy. ( English,English,English,, )
- Subject:
- Disasters and Poverty
- Scope and Content:
- ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS p. 7; CRONYMS p. 8; EXECUTIVE SUMMARY p. 9; PREFACE p. 15; 1. INTRODUCTION: HAZARDS, DISASTERS AND POVERTY p. 16; 1.1 Basic concepts p. 16; 1.2 The link between disaster risk and poverty p. 20; 1.3 This study p. 21; 2. LINK BETWEEN DISASTERS AND POVERTY - METHOD p. 22; 2.1 Method used in the Fiji case study p. 23;
3. DISASTER AND POVERTY LINKS IN FIJI p. 25; 3.1 Partial analysis p. 25; 3.2 Empirical analysis p. 41; 3.3 Coverage and quality of disaster and poverty data p. 48; 4. POLICY IMPLICATIONS FOR FIJI p. 49; 4.1 Poverty reduction and disaster risk reduction p. 49; 4.2 Disaster management p. 52; 4.3 Disaster risk management p. 54; 4.4 Data p. 55; 5. IMPLICATIONS FOR OTHER PACIFIC ISLAND COUNTRIES p. 56; 5.1 Geographic characteristics p. 56; 5.2 Status of Pacific island countries’ economies p. 59; 5.3 Recent trends in increasing vulnerability p. 62; 5.4 Disaster risk reduction and disaster management challenges p. 64; 6. CONCLUDING REMARKS p. 66; REFERENCES p. 67; ANNEX 1: GLOSSARY p. 71; ANNEX 2: POVERTY ALLEVIATION AND DISASTER RISK MANAGEMENT PROJECTS IN FIJI p. 73; TABLES: TABLE 1: TYPES OF HAZARD p. 16; TABLE 2: TYPES OF ANALYSIS USED p. 22; TABLE 3: TYPES AND SOURCES OF DATA USED IN THE ANALYSIS OF THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN DISASTER AND POVERTY IN FIJI, AND DATA CONSTRAINTS p. 23; TABLE 4: DIRECT IMPACTS OF MAJOR DISASTERS, FIJI, 1970–2007 p. 28; TABLE 5: NATIONAL DISASTER MANAGEMENT OFFICE’S ASSESSMENT OF SECTORAL IMPACTS OF CYCLONE AMI AND RELATED FLOODING (F$) p. 32; TABLE 6: ESTIMATED ECONOMIC LOSSES FROM THE 2004 NAVUA FLOODS, FIJI (F$) p. 32; TABLE 7: FIJI’S ECONOMY p. 34; TABLE 8: INTERNATIONAL ASSISTANCE TO FIJI FOR CYCLONE AMI p. 35; TABLE 9: GINI COEFFICIENTS FOR FIJI (PER PERSON INCOME), 1977 TO 2002-03 p. 37;
TABLE 10: SECTORS OF EMPLOYMENT OF THE HEADS OF POOR HOUSEHOLDS, FIJI, 1990-91 p. 39; TABLE 11: BASIC HUMAN DEVELOPMENT INDICATORS FOR FIJI p. 39; TABLE 12: KEY FIJI’S MILLENNIUM DEVELOPMENT GOAL TARGETS p. 40; TABLE 13: GOVERNMENT EXPENDITURE, FIJI (F$ MILLION) p. 40; TABLE 14: KEY VARIABLES USED IN THE OLS REGRESSION ANALYSIS, AND THE RATIONALE FOR THEIR USE p. 43; TABLE 15: RESULTS OF THE REGRESSION ANALYSIS, SUMMARISING EACH COEFFICIENT VALUE p. 44; TABLE 16: KEY THEMES OF THE PACIFIC DRR &DRM FRAMEWORK FOR ACTION 2005 - 2015 p. 55; TABLE 17: REPORTED DISASTERS IN THE PACIFIC ISLANDS, 1950–2004 p. 58; TABLE 18: KEY CHARACTERISTICS OF PACIFIC ISLAND COUNTRIES p. 59; TABLE 19: MAIN ECONOMIC ACTIVITIES OF SELECTED PACIFIC ISLAND COUNTRIES p.60; TABLE 20: IMPORTANCE OF SUBSISTENCE PRODUCTION TO HOUSEHOLD WELLBEING p. 61; TABLE 21: PACIFIC ISLAND COUNTRIES’ PERFORMANCE IN REGARDS TO KEY MILLENNIUM DEVELOPMENT GOALS p. 62;
TABLE 22: HDI VALUES FOR THE PACIFIC, 2007 p. 63; TABLE 23: HPI FOR PACIFIC ISLAND COUNTRIES p. 63; FIGURES: FIGURE 1: FACTORS DETERMINING VULNERABILITY TO NATURAL DISASTERS p. 18; FIGURE 2: RELATIVE IMPORTANCE OF DIFFERENT DISASTER EVENTS IN FIJI, 1970-2007 p. 27; FIGURE 3: DISASTER EVENTS IN FIJI, 1970–2007 p. 28; FIGURE 4: PERCENTAGE OF LIVES LOST PER DISASTER EVENT, FIJI, 1970–2007 p. 29; FIGURE 5: REPORTED NUMBER OF LIVES LOST FROM DISASTER EVENT, FIJI, 1970–2007 p. 29; FIGURE 6: REPORTED NUMBER OF PEOPLE AFFECTED BY DISASTER EVENT, FIJI, 1970–2007 p. 30;
FIGURE 7: TOTAL ESTIMATED COSTS BY DISASTER EVENT TYPE, FIJI (US$) p. 31; FIGURE 8: REPORTED ESTIMATED ANNUAL (NOMINAL) COST OF DISASTERS, FIJI, 1997–2007 p. 31; FIGURE 9: COMPOSITION OF FIJI’S GDP, 2006 p. 33; FIGURE 10: PERCENTAGE CHANGE IN GDP AND AGRICULTURAL GDP, FIJI p. 35; FIGURE 11: REAL GDP PER PERSON, FIJI, 1990–2006 p. 36; FIGURE 12: POPULATION OF FIJI, 1881–2007 p. 37; FIGURE 13: INCIDENCE OF POVERTY IN FIJI p. 38; FIGURE 14: PACIFIC ‘RING OF FIRE’ p. 57; FIGURE 15: RELATIVE IMPORTANCE OF DISASTER EVENTS p. 58; BOXES: BOX 1: DIFFERENT MEASURES OF VULNERABILITYAND RISK p. 18; BOX 2: DEFINITION OF POVERTY IN THE PACIFIC p. 19;
BOX 3: MEASURES OF POVERTY: THE HUMAN POVERTY INDEX AND HUMAN DEVELOPMENT INDEX p. 20; BOX 4: ‘EXTENSIVE’ AND ‘INTENSIVE’ DISASTER RISK CATEGORIES p. 27;
BOX 5: A HUMAN FACE OF NATURAL DISASTERS p. 30; BOX 6: TROPICAL CYCLONE KINA, 1993 p. 31; BOX 7: HOUSEHOLD LEVEL IMPACTS OF 2004 NAVUA FLOODS, FIJI p. 33;
BOX 8: SQUATTER SETTLEMENTS IN FIJI p. 38; BOX 9: ECONOMETRIC JARGON p. 41;
BOX 10: CYCLONE AMI p. 46; BOX 11: WHAT IS DISASTER RISK MANAGEMENT? p. 49;
BOX 12: POVERTY REDUCTION AS A DEVELOPMENT GOAL OF DIFFERENT GOVERNMENTS IN FIJI p. 50; BOX 13: BUILDING A CULTURE OF PREVENTION p. 51; BOX 14: DISASTER RISK MANAGEMENT IN FIJI p. 53; BOX 15: SENSITIVITY OF RURAL ECONOMIES THAT RELY ON NARROW RESOURCES FOR THEIR SUBSISTENCE LIVELIHOOD p. 61; MAPS: MAP 1: THE FIJI ISLANDS p. 26; MAP 2: THE PACIFIC ISLAND COUNTRIES p. 57
- Citation/Reference:
- Lal, P. N., Singh, R., & Holland, P. (2009). Relationship between natural disasters and poverty: a Fiji case study. UN International Strategy for Disaster Reduction (ISDR), the World Bank, Pacific Island Applied Geoscience Commission (SOPAC).
Record Information
- Source Institution:
- Florida International University
- Rights Management:
- Refer to main document/publisher for use rights.
- Resource Identifier:
- FI13022751
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