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Dull Disasters?: How planning ahead will make a difference
In recent years, typhoons have struck the Philippines and Vanuatu; earthquakes have rocked Haiti, Pakistan, and Nepal; floods have swept through Pakistan and Mozambique; droughts have hit Ethiopia, Kenya, and Somalia; and more. All led to loss of life and loss of livelihoods, and recovery will take years. One of the likely effects of climate change is to increase the likelihood of the type of extreme weather events that seems to cause these disasters. But do extreme events have to turn into disasters with huge loss of life and suffering?
Dull Disasters? harnesses lessons from finance, political science, economics, psychology, and the natural sciences to show how countries and their partners can be far better prepared to deal with disasters. The insights can lead to practical ways in which governments, civil society, private firms, and international organizations can work together to reduce the risks to people and economies when a disaster looms. Responses to disasters then become less emotional, less political, less headline-grabbing, and more business as usual and effective.
The book takes the reader through a range of solutions that have been implemented around the world to respond to disasters. It gives an overview of the evidence on what works and what doesn't and it examines the crucial issue of disaster risk financing. Building on the latest evidence, it presents a set of lessons and principles to guide future thinking, research, and practice in this area.
Dull Disasters? harnesses lessons from finance, political science, economics, psychology, and the natural sciences to show how countries and their partners can be far better prepared to deal with disasters. The insights can lead to practical ways in which governments, civil society, private firms, and international organizations can work together to reduce the risks to people and economies when a disaster looms. Responses to disasters then become less emotional, less political, less headline-grabbing, and more business as usual and effective.
The book takes the reader through a range of solutions that have been implemented around the world to respond to disasters. It gives an overview of the evidence on what works and what doesn't and it examines the crucial issue of disaster risk financing. Building on the latest evidence, it presents a set of lessons and principles to guide future thinking, research, and practice in this area.
- GenresEconomics
160 pages, Hardcover
Published July 16, 2016
9 people are currently reading
68 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
April 26, 2018
This is quite a densely written book with many references to the published literature on the subject, so not one for the average interested reader. This is not to disparage the contents. The spelling used is American but tone uninvolved, observing from an office rather than on the ground. At the end of each chapter a summary revisits the content.
Quite correctly the authors point out that having a natural disaster plan agreed upon in advance helps everyone, from first responders to those affected and the government that wants to help them rebuild. Drought, flood, earthquake, tsunami and storms are mentioned, also climate change and conflicts. Figures provided are from the UN, World Bank etc. The authors hope to see that a disaster need not bring tragedy.
The impression I received is that some readers may be going to work in the insurance industry and will be underwriting or directly involved in funding disaster relief plans. We are told of village cultures in India or Africa which provide for funerals with a club, all paying a set amount yearly and anyone needing to pay for a funeral given a set amount. (But the money doesn't seem to earn for them, so they never get richer, unlike a co-op.) We are also told of Mexico which has a fund called FONDEN which pays relief after earthquakes and other disasters.
Some farmers in occasionally risky weather areas will buy crop insurance but will need to prove they planted drought resistant seed or applied pesticide before they can claim. This is not so much in case of fraud but what the authors call a moral hazard situation whereby a farmer may not take precautions if she knows she will be compensated for a coincidentally poor crop.
I was interested to read the section on how disaster funds and governments should 'think like an insurer' by planning for a payout and reinsuring some of the risk. Japan is cited as a case of swift highway rebuilding due to forward planning. I thought a line should be present saying that if insurers and governments are worried about the cost of climate change, they should divest from carbon-intensive firms and invest in carbon neutral ones. Why be part of the problem?
No mention that I saw of the bugbear of corruption. This was exposed as far back as Live Aid when Bob Geldof had to go and get officials on camera before they would admit food aid to the country - the usual bribes would not be given, the officals would have no chance to appropriate some aid, or to see it mostly got to their family, tribe, religion or political faction.
No mention of how disaster relief money is often soaked up by companies and NGOs from outside the affected country, arriving to distribute imported goods, build with imported teams and provide imported services.
No mention of how recipient governments can shunt disaster relief money aside for internal political purposes and buy all the soldiers new rifles.
No mention of how disasters are often an opportunity to expel local people from their land, so resources end up in the hands of the wealthy. Nor of how to see that officials apportion compensation fairly; a man who owns a fine house and rents out six more tends to get all his destroyed houses rebuilt before the man who lost one shanty gets a roof.
No mention of how bribes may have seen that houses got built on fault zones or flood zones in the first place, and they will be again. At what point do you advise stopping insuring? At what point do you stop providing food aid because the locals see no reason to limit family size if there's always someone coming along with a box of protein biscuits and a bag of meal?
To me it seems that corruption should be mentioned; because a fund is responsible for making return on investments, and shouldn't pay fraudulent claims, and is responsible for how the relief it disburses out of that fund is used. The authors of course are entitled to their own opinions.
The imagery presented is minimal and limited to 'the medieval begging bowl' and 'Odysseus and the Sirens' - both revisited several times. No photos and no visual charts, maps or graphs, just a few tables of information. I thought the presentation could have been richer and stronger with visuals. I also would have liked some narrative element - say, a day in the life of an agent who hears of a disaster and notifies the other people she needs to meet with, how they make plans for that part of the world and that type of disaster, if weather is an ongoing hazard or armed conflict is cause for delay. Without this interview the book seems abstract... though such interviews might be found among the references.
No mentions of blockchain, cellphones, satellite phones, drones, satellite imagery, solar panels, all of which are proving enormously useful in disaster assessment and relief distribution.
My hardback has a useful glossary P109 - 112 and notes, references and index P113 - 139. The notes told interesting stories of actual disaster responses, from Nepal to Japan, New Zealand and Sudan, which I would have been inclined to place in the body of the text. I found 21 names which I could be sure were female, but many references were given by initials.
I borrowed this book from the Royal Dublin Society Library. This is an unbiased review.
You may also be interested in:
The Price of Thirst by Karen Piper
Disaster Capitalism by Antony Loewenstein
The Disaster Profiteers by John C Mutter
This Changes Everything by Naomi Klein
Hoping to Help by Judith N Lasker.
Quite correctly the authors point out that having a natural disaster plan agreed upon in advance helps everyone, from first responders to those affected and the government that wants to help them rebuild. Drought, flood, earthquake, tsunami and storms are mentioned, also climate change and conflicts. Figures provided are from the UN, World Bank etc. The authors hope to see that a disaster need not bring tragedy.
The impression I received is that some readers may be going to work in the insurance industry and will be underwriting or directly involved in funding disaster relief plans. We are told of village cultures in India or Africa which provide for funerals with a club, all paying a set amount yearly and anyone needing to pay for a funeral given a set amount. (But the money doesn't seem to earn for them, so they never get richer, unlike a co-op.) We are also told of Mexico which has a fund called FONDEN which pays relief after earthquakes and other disasters.
Some farmers in occasionally risky weather areas will buy crop insurance but will need to prove they planted drought resistant seed or applied pesticide before they can claim. This is not so much in case of fraud but what the authors call a moral hazard situation whereby a farmer may not take precautions if she knows she will be compensated for a coincidentally poor crop.
I was interested to read the section on how disaster funds and governments should 'think like an insurer' by planning for a payout and reinsuring some of the risk. Japan is cited as a case of swift highway rebuilding due to forward planning. I thought a line should be present saying that if insurers and governments are worried about the cost of climate change, they should divest from carbon-intensive firms and invest in carbon neutral ones. Why be part of the problem?
No mention that I saw of the bugbear of corruption. This was exposed as far back as Live Aid when Bob Geldof had to go and get officials on camera before they would admit food aid to the country - the usual bribes would not be given, the officals would have no chance to appropriate some aid, or to see it mostly got to their family, tribe, religion or political faction.
No mention of how disaster relief money is often soaked up by companies and NGOs from outside the affected country, arriving to distribute imported goods, build with imported teams and provide imported services.
No mention of how recipient governments can shunt disaster relief money aside for internal political purposes and buy all the soldiers new rifles.
No mention of how disasters are often an opportunity to expel local people from their land, so resources end up in the hands of the wealthy. Nor of how to see that officials apportion compensation fairly; a man who owns a fine house and rents out six more tends to get all his destroyed houses rebuilt before the man who lost one shanty gets a roof.
No mention of how bribes may have seen that houses got built on fault zones or flood zones in the first place, and they will be again. At what point do you advise stopping insuring? At what point do you stop providing food aid because the locals see no reason to limit family size if there's always someone coming along with a box of protein biscuits and a bag of meal?
To me it seems that corruption should be mentioned; because a fund is responsible for making return on investments, and shouldn't pay fraudulent claims, and is responsible for how the relief it disburses out of that fund is used. The authors of course are entitled to their own opinions.
The imagery presented is minimal and limited to 'the medieval begging bowl' and 'Odysseus and the Sirens' - both revisited several times. No photos and no visual charts, maps or graphs, just a few tables of information. I thought the presentation could have been richer and stronger with visuals. I also would have liked some narrative element - say, a day in the life of an agent who hears of a disaster and notifies the other people she needs to meet with, how they make plans for that part of the world and that type of disaster, if weather is an ongoing hazard or armed conflict is cause for delay. Without this interview the book seems abstract... though such interviews might be found among the references.
No mentions of blockchain, cellphones, satellite phones, drones, satellite imagery, solar panels, all of which are proving enormously useful in disaster assessment and relief distribution.
My hardback has a useful glossary P109 - 112 and notes, references and index P113 - 139. The notes told interesting stories of actual disaster responses, from Nepal to Japan, New Zealand and Sudan, which I would have been inclined to place in the body of the text. I found 21 names which I could be sure were female, but many references were given by initials.
I borrowed this book from the Royal Dublin Society Library. This is an unbiased review.
You may also be interested in:
The Price of Thirst by Karen Piper
Disaster Capitalism by Antony Loewenstein
The Disaster Profiteers by John C Mutter
This Changes Everything by Naomi Klein
Hoping to Help by Judith N Lasker.
December 6, 2019
Excellent book on the future of disaster response and recovery
Very high quality book that provides clear and specific steps to prevent hurricanes, fires, and other hazards from becoming disasters.
Very high quality book that provides clear and specific steps to prevent hurricanes, fires, and other hazards from becoming disasters.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews