Differentiating The Economic Impact Of Natural Disasters On Rural Communities In Developing Countries

Natural hazards may affect anyone,but it is commonly accepted that populations of lower socioeconomic standing are subject to a disproportionate risk of suffering more serious consequences from natural disasters,compared with those who are more affluent.While this pattern is well documented in comparisons between developed and developing countries,there appears to be a need for quantitative demonstrations of the differing impact that natural disasters have on richer or poorer economic brackets within the same society.This research undertakes to examine the differential economic impacts suffered by respective segments of a society,grouped by their economic standings.The tragic,magnitude 7.8 earthquake of April 25,2015 in Nepal affords the basis for this investigation,which focuses on the context of a rural population in a developing country.The research employed a methodology of engaging directly with local residents to characterize respective economic brackets according to their own perceptions,and to assess the effects of the disaster.Fieldwork in Myanmar and in Qinghai Province of China served to validate the approaches adopted.Several conceptual tools are introduced by this research.An “asset horizon” relates the total level of assets held by a family,to the income required to meet the basic expenditures necessary to maintain a minimally acceptable level of well-being,specific to that socioeconomic setting.The “marginal family” is one that has sufficient income to maintain this level,but without extra income to advance their economic position.In the context of a disaster,the “household economic impact factor” indicates the economic loss sustained by a family as a proportion of its total assets before the disaster.Thus it measures the change in the family's asset horizon caused by the disaster.The added value of these concepts is that they provide a means to relate a family's economic standing to local perceptions and local economic standards.They give a simple measure of the severity of a disaster's impact,according to those standards.Finally,since these parameters are based in the local economic context,they also provide a basis for relating the perceived severity of disparate disasters in different places.The research results show a strong correlation between a family's initial economic standing(characterized by the asset horizon before the disaster),and their relative loss from the disaster,(as indicated by the household economic impact factor.)The progressively severe consequences of the earthquake on poor families and communities in Nepal are demonstrated in concrete terms through the framework established here.Implications of these findings are discussed,and the introduced concepts are applied to make comparisons between brackets and between different contexts in developing countries or areas.Further possible uses where the conceptual tools could be employed are also discussed.