DOI: 10.5061/dryad.d7wm37qc0
title: Data from: Disaster recovery – evidence from 100 natural disasters

description: This paper examines the factors that affect the recovery process following
 100 major natural disasters. The study aimed to measure the speed and
 quality of recovery and to begin to answer the question of why some places
 recover faster and better than others. This worldwide study, conducted
 over a 15-year period, covers four natural hazards: major floods, storms,
 earthquakes, and tsunamis.
description: <strong>Methodology abstract</strong>
 A number of indicators were considered to measure the speed of
 recovery, based on a “return to normality”.<sup>[i]</sup>
 Measures of the quality of recovery were based on the concept of “building
 back better” and a change in resilience.<sup>[ii]</sup> The
 speed of recovery was measured separately for ‘economy’ and ‘society’,
 based on the time taken in months to return to ‘normal’ to comply with the
 conditions listed below. The quality of recovery was measured in terms of
 changes in economic growth, safety and amenity. Improvements in these
 factors result in improved resilience, while a deterioration results in
 impaired recovery. They are each measured on a five-point scale: from 1,
 much worse to 5, much better. <strong>Dependent
 variables - Factors measuring speed and quality of
 recovery</strong> 
   Speed (months) Quality (scale 1-5) 
 <strong>Economy</strong>
 Livelihoods ≥90% back in work; Economy
 ≥90% businesses back in operation; Services ≥90% telecoms, water, power
 restored Economic
 growth <strong>Society</strong>
 Access fully restored; Temporary shelter
 completely cleared; Permanent housing ≥90% rehoused; Schooling ≥90%
 children in full-time school Safety; Amenity 
 <strong>Independent variables
 - Factors that might affect speed and quality of
 recovery</strong> The independent variables that
 we imagined might affect the speed and quality of recovery include both
 "givens", including antecedent factors and the hazard load, and
 manageable factors, that include resourcing, organisation and management.
 (Table 4) Givens Manageable Factors 
 ANTECEDENTS RESOURCING 
 Economy Type (event year)
 Self vs external finance
 Income Group
 (2018) Government
 aid GDP
 Growth (event year) Non-Governmental aid 
 GDP per Capita (event
 year) Insured loss
 GNI per Capita
 (event year) Insurance
 penetration IHDI Value (2017) Speed of funding delivery 
 Gini Coefficient
 (2018) Adequacy of
 funding Corrupt. Index (2018) ORGANISATION 
 Non-Life Insurance Penetration (event
 year) State of
 Democracy LOAD Disaster Management Authority
 Damage Severity (%
 damage buildings, infrastructure) Preparedness 
 Economic Loss Public Participation 
 Fatalities MANAGEMENT 
 Displaced Scientific basis of decision making
 Affected
 Population Decision
 Quality Experience of previous disasters
 
 <strong>Data
 collection</strong> Various data collection
 methods were used in a complementary way to provide both quantifiable and
 qualitative data. <strong>Remote
 sensing</strong> (6 cases)
 <strong>Interviews</strong> (15 cases)
 <strong>Workshops</strong> (5 cases)
 <strong>Surveys</strong> (7 cases)
 <strong>EM-DAT international database</strong> (103
 cases) <strong>A cautionary
 note</strong> In interpreting the information
 from published sources a number of measures relied on the subjective
 judgement of the author. Specifically this applies to the assessment of
 the speed and quality of recovery, in those cases where definitive
 information was unavailable, and to an assessment of the quality of
 decision making by the authorities responsible for disaster
 management. The sources for each of the variables
 tabled in Appendix.  Confidence level given for estimates of speed and
 quality and resourcing. [i] Quarantelli,
 E.L. (1999), "What Is a Disaster: Perspectives on the Question",
 Disaster Prevention and Management, Vol. 8 No. 5, pp. 370-452.
 Routledge [ii] Kim K., Olshansky R. B., (2014) The
 theory and practice of building back better. Journal of the American
 Planning Association 80 (4), 289-292
description: # Data from: Disaster recovery – evidence from 100 natural disasters   The
 following files are available for download: * 100_Disasters.xlsx *
 CRS_Disaster_Recovery_DB2.csv ### **100_Disasters.xlsx**  This file has
 nine worksheets. Data_030520          This is the data file with all
 fields as of 3 May 2020 Metrc_Definitions          Defines all the fields
 used in the data file Metric_Codes          Coding of all fields Countries
          Economic type, based on World Bank data, and Economist Democracy
 Index           World Bank World Development Indicators
 [http://wdi.worldbank.org/table/4.2](http://wdi.worldbank.org/table/4.2) 
 Economic type based on the proportion of Agricultural, Service and
 Industry GDP Manual-AI Comparison Speed of societal recovery, defined by
 time in years for ≥90% residents to return to permanent accommodation.
 Manual estimates produced by the research team from field study and desk
 work compared with AI estimates by ChatGPT based on an internet search of
 over 2000 references ### CRS_Disaster_Recovery_DB2.csv  This file had one
 worksheet.  This is a bibliography of 756 references used in the study,
 exported from Zotero