What is the Link Between Economic Development and Humanitarian Response?

-by Jurgita Balaisyte and Luk N. Van Wassenhove, 10 May 2011-

May 11th marked the second month of the relief effort in response to the earthquake, tsunami and nuclear crisis in Japan. As of May 5th, the number of deaths was 14,817, the number of injured was 5,279, and the number of missing is 10,171 (according to the National Police Agency). The 2011 Tohoku earthquake and tsunami disaster showed that even a prosperous and a well prepared country like Japan can be challenged by complex disasters. When disaster occurs in a highly populated area casualties are almost unavoidable. However, preparedness can minimise casualties and losses. Prepared countries with governments that exercise strong leadership and internal resources usually are more coherent in disaster response.

Disaster life cycle includes four stages: mitigation, preparedness, response and rehabilitation. Mitigation addresses the proactive social component of emergencies. This includes laws and mechanisms that reduce the vulnerability of the population and increase resilience. Mitigation leads to better preparedness, putting in place the response mechanisms to counter factors that society has not been able to mitigate (Tomasini and Van Wassenhove, 2009). In addition, governance and socio-economic conditions often have a great impact on the disaster preparedness and response.

Therefore, we look at how preparedness, governance, and socioeconomic conditions can help individuals and countries to reduce the resulting deaths, injuries, costs, and disruption. In this commentary we focus only on natural disasters such as earthquakes and tsunami. We compare the disaster Japan to other recent disasters of similar magnitude such as the 2010 Chile and Haiti earthquakes. We suggest that both Chile and Haiti are good examples for comparison because they represent two extreme poles in terms of preparedness, governance and socioeconomic environment. Chile is among the most prosperous countries in Latin America  whereas Haiti is one of the poorest nations in the region. Below, Table 1 depicts the differences between the three disasters in terms of magnitude of the disaster on the Richter scale, the number of casualties and GDP per capita.

Table 1: Disaster Characteristics and Socio-Economic Factors

Disaster	Magnitude	Casualties	GDP PPP (2009)
Japan 2011	9.0	13,858	$33,100
Chile 2010	8.8	562	$14,900
Haiti 2010	7.0	230,000	$1,200

First, we explore preparedness in the light of the earthquake and tsunami. Second, we examine the governance impact on the relief efforts. Third, we look at how socioeconomic conditions and citizens can affect response. Read the rest of this article... Please share your opinion and comments here regarding Japan's disaster preparedness and contingency plans, measures towards a nuclear treat, your experience in Japan or with other disasters.