"The Invisible Impacts of Natural Disasters," World Bank
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Destruction of the Indonesian coast, 26 December 2004 Indian Ocean. Image United Nations
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When a natural disaster strikes what we really see is but the tip of the iceberg...from early signals to human losses the Invisible Impacts of Natural Disasters are just now being revealed in full.
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“Major catastrophes are currently occurring once a fortnight on average. Is the Worldwide frequency of natural disasters actually going up, or are increasingly crowded and interconnected human societies becoming more susceptible to them?” the European Space Agency ESA hands on the issue asks and answers through its new active programs.
The ESA explains that new technology and new satellite programs have become the latest asset at disposal for emergency response teams. “Satellites can perform rapid damage-mapping to help guide rescue efforts and provide early warnings,” ESA assures.
For the World Bank Natural Disasters today are not just about costs and damages but about their impact in the global economy and social groups, they are after the Invisible. On November 14 the World Bank released a new reported which assures to have broken down the link between extreme weather and extreme poverty.
The World Bank discovered that natural disasters are forcing over 26 million people into poverty every year and causing losses of 520 billion USD in the same period.
“Because natural disasters tighten poverty’s grip on communities worldwide, disaster risk reduction goes hand in hand with poverty reduction, and vice versa,” the World Bank says.
The World Bank described the impact as “more devastating than previously understood”. Looking beyond the impacts the International Financial Organization focused in solutions. They listed resilience building interventions, early warnings and new programs as key turn-arounds for the situation.
Working on land and in outer space the European Space Agency ESA is serious about the issue as well. Since 2000 when they formalised the work joining the “International Charter-Space and Major Disasters Agreement”. The Charter has 11 Member Space Agencies Worldwide.
Activations supporting short-term disaster response, satellites applications for disaster recovery, optical images for damage-mapping, snapshot of overall effects, higher-resolution acquisitions of damages, imaging radar sensitivity to floods and waterlogged ground and imaging spectrometers and radiometers for forest fire plumes, early warnings and preventions and hotspots are some of Space Charter contributions.
More importantly ESA assures that the major natural disasters affecting millions of people in this age and time are revealing early warnings signs that can be detected from Space.
“In 2013, an estimated one million Filipinos were plunged into poverty after Typhoon Haiyan sapped 12.9 billion USD from the national economy and destroyed over a million homes. No sooner had the 2010 Cyclone Aila devastated coastal areas of Bangladesh than unemployment and poverty levels surged 49 % and 22 %, respectively. Economic strains facing Guatemala after Hurricane Stan in 2005 forced 7.3 % of affected families to send children to work instead of school. After Tropical Storm Agatha hit Guatemala in 2010 poverty skyrocketed to 14%,” World Bank's explains.
“Whenever disaster strikes, it leaves more than just a trail of devastation -it also leaves communities further in the grip of poverty,” World Bank added.
What really grabs the attention of international news headlines is the financial cost of a natural disaster, the damage inflicted on buildings, infrastructure and agricultural production while other very serious impacts never reach the media,” the World Bank said.
When we hear about the costs of a natural disasters we are only seeing the tip of the iceberg…”a simple price tag represents only the losses suffered by people wealthy enough to have something to lose in the first place”.
The crushing impact of the World's Poor who suffer much more in relative terms than wealthier people are invisible. To see this “invisible effect” the World Bank used a new lens.
“Through this lens, a new report released by the World Bank and the Global Facility for Disaster Reduction and Recovery GFDRR warns that natural disasters are a greater impediment to ending Global Poverty than previously understood. Launched this week at COP 22, the report, Unbreakable: Building the Resilience of the Poor in the Face of Natural Disasters underscores the urgency for climate-smart policies that better protect the world’s most vulnerable,” World Bank reported.
“Through this lens, a new report released by the World Bank and the Global Facility for Disaster Reduction and Recovery GFDRR warns that natural disasters are a greater impediment to ending Global Poverty than previously understood. Launched this week at COP 22, the report, Unbreakable: Building the Resilience of the Poor in the Face of Natural Disasters underscores the urgency for climate-smart policies that better protect the world’s most vulnerable,” World Bank reported.
"Severe climate shocks threaten to roll back decades of progress against poverty. Storms, floods, and droughts have dire human and economic consequences, with poor people often paying the heaviest price. Building resilience to disasters not only makes economic sense, it is a moral imperative," they add.
World Bank wants to build resilience for the poor in the face of natural disasters. Their study shows that the poor are twice as likely to work in sectors highly susceptible to extreme weather events like agriculture and live in fragile housing in vulnerable area. They also have less support to recover and rebuild.
Disasters can not all be avoided but there are opportunity for actions. Investing in early warning systems, financial services to rebuild communities, social safety nets for the most vulnerable and health and housing programs as well as scientific studies are part of the solutions proposed.
Disasters can not all be avoided but there are opportunity for actions. Investing in early warning systems, financial services to rebuild communities, social safety nets for the most vulnerable and health and housing programs as well as scientific studies are part of the solutions proposed.
Problems, impacts and solutions...makes one think about it...what is else is hidden in the Invisible Impacts of Natural Disasters?
