Topic
Natural disaster
About: Natural disaster is a research topic. Over the lifetime, 5456 publications have been published within this topic receiving 104808 citations. The topic is also known as: natural calamity & natural hazard.
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TL;DR: In the wake of Hurricane Katrina, the city's population declined from over 400,000 to near zero, and the U.S. Census Bureau estimates indicate that almost two years after the storm, by July 1, 2007, nearly half of these evacuees had yet to return as mentioned in this paper.
Abstract: On August 29, 2005, Hurricane Katrina swept into Louisiana and New Orleans, a city built largely on land reclaimed from swamp, witnessed massive failures in its levees. Much of the city and its surrounding suburbs were inundated; those residents of the city who had not heeded warnings to flee the approaching storm were evacuated in its wake. In less than a week, the city's population declined from over 400,000 to near zero. Census Bureau estimates indicate that almost two years after the storm, by July 1, 2007, nearly half of these evacuees had yet to return. Will the future New Orleans bear any resemblance to the city that existed prior to Katrina? Most government authorities, from city officials to federal spokespersons, insist that New Orleans must -- and should -- be fully rebuilt. Many environmental scientists question whether such a rebuilding would be sensible, given the city's precarious geological position and the contribution of past land reclamation to the city's current vulnerability. The more basic positive question of whether the city will come back, however, is fundamentally an economic one. After Hurricane Katrina, will the city of New Orleans continue to be a preferred location for more than 400,000 residents and their employers? Or will the disaster shift the city to a new equilibrium level of employment and population?
237 citations
TL;DR: This article examined the relation between a natural disaster situation and its potential effects on the growth rate of output, by means of a simple macroeconomic model, which is later applied as a demonstration to a sample of countries affected by major natural disasters in the last two decades.
236 citations
TL;DR: The health impacts of extreme weather events hinge on the vulnerabilities and recovery capacities of the natural environment and the local population as mentioned in this paper, and the health impacts beyond the direct impacts of disaster will provide a more accurate measure of the full health impacts and assist in planning and resource allocation.
Abstract: Extreme weather events such as precipitation extremes and severe storms cause hundreds of deaths and injuries annually in the United States. Climate change may alter the frequency, timing, intensity, and duration of these events. Increases in heavy precipitation have occurred over the past century. Future climate scenarios show likely increases in the frequency of extreme precipitation events, including precipitation during hurricanes, raising the risk of floods. Frequencies of tornadoes and hurricanes cannot reliably be projected. Injury and death are the direct health impacts most often associated with natural disasters. Secondary effects, mediated by changes in ecologic systems and public health infrastructure, also occur. The health impacts of extreme weather events hinge on the vulnerabilities and recovery capacities of the natural environment and the local population. Relevant variables include building codes, warning systems, disaster policies, evacuation plans, and relief efforts. There are many federal, state, and local government agencies and nongovernmental organizations involved in planning for and responding to natural disasters in the United States. Future research on health impacts of extreme weather events should focus on improving climate models to project any trends in regional extreme events and as a result improve public health preparedness and mitigation. Epidemiologic studies of health effects beyond the direct impacts of disaster will provide a more accurate measure of the full health impacts and will assist in planning and resource allocation.
231 citations
TL;DR: The United Nations General Assembly has declared the 1990s the International Decade of Natural Disaster Reduction and has called for a worldwide effort to reduce the loss of life and property.
Abstract: Disasters are tragedies that overwhelm our communities, destroy our property, and harm our populations. The United Nations General Assembly, recognizing the magnitude of the problem, has declared the 1990s the International Decade of Natural Disaster Reduction and has called for a worldwide effort to reduce the loss of life and property. The involvement of the medical community in this effort is crucial. Disasters are the results of natural or man-made events and are routinely described in terms of certain characteristics (Table 1).1 2 3 Yet each is unique, each is of extreme urgency, and each places a tremendous burden on the community . . .
227 citations
TL;DR: This paper examined the impact of hurricanes on resource flows to developing countries using meteorological data and found that hurricanes lead to large increases in foreign aid for poorer countries and increased migrants' remittances for richer countries.
Abstract: How well do countries cope with the aftermath of natural disasters? Do international financial flows buffer countries in the wake of disasters? This paper examines the impact of hurricanes on resource flows to developing countries. Using meteorological data, I construct a time-varying storm index taking into account the fraction of a country's population exposed to storms of varying intensities. Overall, hurricanes lead to large increases in foreign aid. For other types of international financial flows, the impact of hurricanes varies according to income level. For poorer countries, hurricanes lead to increases in migrants' remittances, so that total inflows from all sources in the three years following hurricane exposure amount to roughly four-fifths of estimated damages. For richer countries, by contrast, hurricanes stimulate inflows of new lending from multilateral institutions, but offsetting declines in private financial flows are so large that the null hypothesis of zero damage replacement cannot be rejected.
226 citations