Human failure in disasters

Poverty, exclusion, inequality, and unsuitable policies raise risks for poor people, women, and minorities especially. This impedes the development process and keeps millions trapped in poverty.

However, Oxfam’s latest report Rethinking disasters – Why death and destruction is not nature's fault but human failure finds out that although nature traditionally gets the blame, it is human failure that turns a natural shock such as a cyclone into a humanitarian disaster.

The report shows that successful disaster risk reduction policies, integrated into development work, save lives and money, making vulnerable communities more resilient and protecting development gains.

Both the human and monetary cost of disasters in South Asia is enormous. The 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami and the 2005 Kashmir earthquake alone killed over 120,000 people and left millions homeless in the sub-continent. The floods of 2007 affected over 30 million in Bangladesh, India, Pakistan, Nepal and Sri Lanka. The region loses up to six percent of its GDP to disasters annually.

The report shows that preparedness costs a fraction of what a disaster response can cost. The problem is that governments and donors do not prioritise these preventive measures.

Governments, donors and development agencies must integrate disaster risk reduction and climate adaptation measures into all development projects, strengthen infrastructure, reduce underlying vulnerabilities, and encourage more resilient communities, says the report.

The report identifies four key spheres for action:

• Social: from reaction to preparedness - Communities must be enabled to understand the risks and prepare accordingly, supported by effective early warning systems and appropriate media coverage.

• Physical: sound structures and environmental protection – Physical infrastructure must be strengthened according to local conditions and hazards while preserving the natural environment (which can help protect people from disasters).

• Economic: tackling poverty – The scale of a disaster is determined by people’s underlying vulnerability. Public works and financial safety nets can help people avoid falling into destitution; livelihoods must be secured.

• Political: protecting rights in a crisis and beyond - Disasters make existing inequities worse. Governments must combat South Asia’s huge inequalities in incomes, power and access to support, providing essential services and information as basic rights.