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ADRC-Natural Disasters Data Book-2003

2.3 Economies of Natural Disaster Impact:
In this section, the analysis focuses on the country’s income level as related to disasterimpact.

A country’s income level is determined by the per capita GNI of a country and is then related

to disaster characteristics.

Following figures show this relationship and it is evident that the majorityof the human losses and affected people are from low and lower middle income countries except thehuman losses in high income countries in Europe due to heat wave.
Generally, though the real economic loss from disasters is higher in high-income countries
due to their developed infrastructural framework and the economic establishments that haveaccumulated social capital, loss from disasters in developing and lower income countries is more
substantial when compared to the GNIs of those countries.

When human loss and suffering areconsidered, it is once again visible from the following figures that the lower income and lower
middle-income countries suffer greatly.

This firmly emphasizes the need for a holistic disastermanagement approach with due consideration of a country’s disaster vulnerability, the impact andextent of disaster related damage, and impact of disaster on the human development and economy.
The socio-economic impact of disasters varies according to the types of disasters, thedisaster period (length), and the post disaster recovery period. A country’s income level plays a crucialrole in deciding the recovery period of a disaster.

In addition, the income level of a country and themagnitude of the socio-economic impact of a disaster are proportionally related to each other and theratio of such impact to the country’s GNI demonstrates the negative effects of disasters upon low andlower middle income countries.

The reason for the shape of Figure 17 is the heat wave which hit

Europe. The disasters occurred in Iran, China and Algeria, contributed for the shape of the Figure 18.
Figures 19-20 portray similar trends for the world and the Asian region.

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ADRC-Natural Disasters Data Book-2003

Figure 17:
Ratio o f Numbe r of People Kille d to Populatio n(Income Level) (2003) (World Summaray)
Low IncomeLower Middle Income

Upper Middle Income

High Income
00.00001

0.000020.000030.00004

Source: ADRC, Japan, CRED-EMDAT, Universite Catholique de Louvain, Brussels, Belgium and UNDP, 2003

Figure 18:

Ratio o f Numbe r o f People Kille d to Population(Income Level) (2003) (Asia Summary)
Low Income

Lower Middle Income

Upper Middle Income

High Income
00.000004

0.000008

0.000012

0.000016

Source: ADRC, Japan, CRED-EMDAT, Universite Catholique de Louvain, Brussels, Belgium and UNDP, 2003

２７0.00002

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ADRC-Natural Disasters Data Book-2003

Figure 19:

R at i o o f N umbe r o f T o t al l y A ffe c t e d P e o p l e t o P o p ul ati o n(Inc o me L e ve l ) (2003) (W o r l d Summar y)
Low Income

Lower M iddle Income

Upper M iddle Income

High Income

00.01

0.02

0.03

0.04

0.05

0.06

0.07

0.08

Source: ADRC, Japan, CRED-EMDAT, Universite Catholique de Louvain, Brussels, Belgium and UNDP, 2003

Figure 20:

R a tio o f Nu mb e r o f To ta lly A f f e cte d Pe o p le to Po p u la tio n( I n co me Le v e l) ( 2 0 0 3 ) ( A sia S u mma ry )Low Income

Lower M iddle Income

Upper M iddle Income

High Income

00.01

0.02

0.03

0.04

0.05

0.06

0.07

Source: ADRC, Japan, CRED-EMDAT, Universite Catholique de Louvain, Brussels, Belgium and UNDP, 2003

２８0.08

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ADRC-Natural Disasters Data Book-2003

Figure 21:

R ati o o f A mo unt o f D amage to G NI
(Inc o me L e ve l ) (2003) (W o r l d Summar y)
Low Income

Lower M iddle Income

Upper M iddle Income

High Income

00.00050.001

0.00150.002 0.0025

0.003

0.00350.0040.0045

Source: ADRC, Japan, CRED-EMDAT, Universite Catholique de Louvain, Brussels, Belgium and UNDP, 2003

Figure 22:

R atio o f A mo unt o f D amage to G NI
(Inc o me L e ve l) (2003) (A sia Summar y)
Low Income

Lower M iddle Income

Upper M iddle Income

High Income

00.001

0.002

0.003

0.004

0.005

0.006

0.007

Source: ADRC, Japan, CRED-EMDAT, Universite Catholique de Louvain, Brussels, Belgium and UNDP, 2003

２９0.008

Chapter 2ADRC-Natural Disasters Data Book-2003

Figures 21 and 22 depict the share of amount of damage to the GNI in relation to income
levels of the countries. Accordingly, in the world, it is visible that the share of damage to GNI is highin the lower middle income countries and this is mainly due to the floods in China, earthquakes inAlgeria and Iran.

But in the Asia this share is high in the upper middle income countries and this ismainly due to the typhoon Maemi which hits Korea.
It is evident that the extent of damage by natural disasters is connected to a country’ssocio-economic level.

As seen in the above figures, disaster management and post disaster activities

are crucial to sustainable development in the year 2003, as they were in the previous years.

It can be

said that in 2003, like many previous years, natural disaster impact is closely related to poverty,
education, quality of health, gender related issues, and changing policy scenarios in relation to global
socio-economic characteristics.

Hence disaster mitigation and management strategies must

incorporate these areas into holistic disaster management approach line with sustainable development.

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