Aid, natural disasters and the samaritan's dilema
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Material Information

Title:
Aid, natural disasters and the samaritan's dilema
Series Title:
Policy Research Working Papers
Creator:
Raschky, Paul A.
Schwindt, Manijeh
Disaster Risk Reduction Program, Florida International University (DRR/FIU) ( summary contributor )
Place of Publication:
Washington, D.C.
Publisher:
The World Bank
Publication Date:
Copyright Date:
2009
Language:
English

Subjects

Subjects / Keywords:
Natural hazards and disasters ( lcshac )
Urban development ( lcshac )
Disaster relief ( lcshac )
Genre:
non-fiction ( marcgt )

Notes

Summary:
This document analyzes the impact of foreign aid on the willingness of recipient countries to reduce disaster risks and establish preparedness procedures for potential disasters. While it is traditionally believed that any aid provided to a state yields positive outcomes, this document provides statistical results that are contrary to the mantra sung by most donor agencies. Raschky and Schwindt find that this belief is only a half-truth, since aid dependence for disaster risk reduction (DRR) can have both positive and negative effects in terms of protecting societies and communities against disaster. They note that when the crowding out effect and interchangeability outweigh the preventive effect of aid, donor agencies lose the inducement to provide aid, which in turn leads to greater losses of life after a disaster event. Additionally, the effect of aid differs according to the type of hazard being addressed. The authors found that preventive aid used to address flood and earthquake risks leads to increased aid after an event and decreases in the death toll, while increases in aid for major storms resulted in less aid after the event and higher death tolls. The authors make it clear that they do not call for a reduction in foreign aid but rather that donors reconsider their approaches to aid. Instead of offering money with no follow up, it is advised that conditionalities be attached to aid. This they believe will ensure that donors integrate ex-ante DRR transfers, activities, and projects with their provision for ex-post recovery and reconstruction, as opposed to merely focusing on ex-post transfers and activities. This has been the call of numerous DRR scholars and practitioners for years. ( English )
Subject:
General Disaster Risk Reduction ( English )
Citation/Reference:
Raschky, P. A., Schwindt, M. (2009). Aid, natural disasters and the Samaritan’s dilemma. The World Bank.

Record Information

Source Institution:
Florida International University
Rights Management:
Refer to main document/publisher for use rights.
Resource Identifier:
FI13042689
778846811 ( oclc )

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Aggregations:
Disaster Risk Reduction