Natural Disaster and Development in a Globalizing World

The number of humanitarian disasters triggered by a natural hazard has doubled every decade since the 1960s. At the same time, the global economic growth rate per capita is twice its 1960s value. Does this mean economic growth is independent of the impacts of natural disaster? As we become aware of the global scale processes of environmental change and economic liberalisation, it is becoming increasingly clear how fundamental these global pressures are for shaping local geographies of risk. The contributors to this book look at the disaster-development relationship under globalisation from three different perspectives. First there is an examination of global processes and how they might affect disaster risk at the global scale. Secondly, links between international issues, such as diplomatic relations, the growth of non-governmental organisations and the health of the international insurance industry, and disaster risk are explored. Thirdly, the interaction of these large scale forces with local conditions are examined through case study analysis of individual disaster events, from the so-called developed and developing worlds.

Beyond its central premise, the book can be read through the connected lenses of Nonfiction, Fiction. Those themes offer useful points of attention as the characters, ideas, or world develop, especially where the book complicates the expectations of its primary category.