HR: 15:00h
AN: U53B-05    [Abstracts]
TI: The Katrina disaster: a poor world tragedy in a rich country
AU: * Mutter, J C
EM: jcm7@columbia.edu
AF: The Earth Institute at Columbia University, 535 West 116th Street, New York, NY 10027 United States
AU: Lerner-Lam, A
EM: lerner@ldeo.columbia.edu
AF: The Earth Institute at Columbia University, 535 West 116th Street, New York, NY 10027 United States
AU: Schlosser, P
EM: peters@ldeo.columbia.edu
AF: The Earth Institute at Columbia University, 535 West 116th Street, New York, NY 10027 United States
AU: Ingram, J
EM: jci2102@columbia.edu
AF: The Earth Institute at Columbia University, 535 West 116th Street, New York, NY 10027 United States
AB: The Katrina hurricane catastrophe this year and the tsunami tragedy of December 2004 bear disquieting similarities in their consequences on human populations. Though dissimilar in their natural causes both resulted primarily in drowning as a reason for loss of life. The tsunami took the lives of an estimated 300,000 people most of whom were relatively poor. As such that disaster underscores the well-supported observation that people in the lower rungs of society globally are at far greater mortality risk from natural disasters than those at the upper levels. Countries that fall lowest by measures such as the Human Development Index (HDI) like the poorest countries in Africa are known to suffer much greater losses than people richer countries. At least in part this is due to the prevalence of fragile built structures and weak emergency response institutions. But the vulnerability of the poor is also amplified by their location, often in regions prone to flooding, landslides or marginal regions susceptible to climate extremes. While well recognized in a developing world context, the vulnerability to natural catastrophes of the poorest within rich societies has been less apparent until now. Most disasters such as earthquakes in California and seasonal hurricanes in Florida and the Gulf coast have resulted in relatively few deaths (compared to similar events in poor countries) and people from most sectors of society have been impacted. The loss of life from Katrina is approaching the scale of developing world disasters and also bears their signature with many more fatalities among poorer people than those at the upper levels of society. The reasons for their vulnerability seem similar as well and have little to do with the nature of the natural event itself. These two disasters occurring within the space of one year with very different causes and in distant parts of the globe have resulted in alarmingly similar outcomes on societies that carry with it universal lessons in disaster preparedness
DE: 6300 POLICY SCIENCES (7964)
DE: 9810 New fields (not classifiable under other headings)
SC: Union [U]
MN: Fall Meeting 2005