1.6B - Governance and Geographical Factors
Governance (P: local and national government) and geographical factors (population density, isolation/accessibility, degree of urbanisation) influence vulnerability and a community's resilience.
Governance refers to the process by which a country or region is run. (A.k.a. 'public administration'). It relates to how 'well-run' a place is. Good governance implies that national and local government are effective in keeping people safe, healthy and educated.
The effectiveness of governance varies enormously and has a significant impact on coping capacity and resilience in the event of a natural disaster. The link between governance and vulnerability:
- Meeting basic needs
- When food supply, water supply and health needs are met the population is physically more able to cope with disaster
- Planning
- Land-use planning can reduce risk by preventing habitation on high risk slopes, areas prone to liquefaction or areas within a volcanic hazard zone
- Environmental Managament
- Secondary hazards, such as landslides, can be made worse by deforestation. The right monitoring equipment can warn of some hazards, such as lahars.
- Preparedness
- Education and community preparation programmes raise awareness and teach people how to prepare, evacuate and act
- Corruption
- Siphoning off money ear-marked for hazard management or 'kick-backs' and bribed to allow illegal or unsafe buildings increase vulnerability.
- kick-back = illicit payment made in exchange for facilitating a transaction
- Siphoning off money ear-marked for hazard management or 'kick-backs' and bribed to allow illegal or unsafe buildings increase vulnerability.
- Open-ness
- Governments that are open, with a free press and media, can be held to account, increasing the likelihood that preparation and planning take place.
- Governments that are open, with a free press and media, can be held to account, increasing the likelihood that preparation and planning take place.
Most countries have national disaster management agencies, such as FEMA in the USA, which increase resilience to hazards and reduce the impacts of disasters. In the developing world these can be effective, such as PHIVOLCS in the Philippines, but they are often under-funded and under-resourced.
Low-level corruption of local government officials is common in many developing countries, meaning that building codes are often ignored and construction allowed in inappropriate places. This was widely blamed for the high death toll of 17,000 in the Izmit earthquake in Turkey in 1999.
Geographical Factors
The nature of tectonic hazard impacts is influenced by a number of geographical factors, including:
Urban areas usually have more assets than rural areas. These include hospitals, emergency services, food stores and transport connections, which increase resilience and coping capacity compared with isolated rural places. However, high population density may mean more people are affected.
- population density: highly populated areas may be hard to evacuate, such as the area around Mt Vesuvius in Italy, and are likely to be hit harder by an earthquake
- degree of urbanisation: when cities are struck by major earthquakes, such as the 1995 Kobe earthquake in Japan or Haiti in 2010, death tolls can be high because of the concentration of at-risk people.
- isolation and accessibility: often rural areas are hit less hard than urban areas by the initial impact of the disaster, but isolation and limited access can slow the rescue relief effort. The 2005 Kashmir earthquake is a good example.
Urban areas usually have more assets than rural areas. These include hospitals, emergency services, food stores and transport connections, which increase resilience and coping capacity compared with isolated rural places. However, high population density may mean more people are affected.
