Page 25 - Pelc, Stanko, and Miha Koderman, eds., 2016. Regional development, sustainability, and marginalization. Koper: University of Primorska Press.
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ional development, sustainability, 23
and marginalization
IGU Commission C12.29
Globalization, Marginalization, and Regional
and Local Responses
2016
Natural disasters and less developed countries
Matija Zorn
Research Centre of the Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts,
Anton Melik Geographical Institute,
Novi trg 2, SI-1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia
Natural disasters frequently occur throughout the world, affect-
ing both developed and less developed countries. However, some
countries are clearly more vulnerable than others. The vast major-
ity of lives lost or affected by natural disasters are in less developed
countries. The World Bank estimates that more than 90 percent
of the populations of Bangladesh, Nepal, the Dominican Repub-
lic, Burundi, Haiti, Taiwan, Malawi, El Salvador, and Honduras live
in areas at high relative risk of death from two or more natural
hazards. Poor governance, external sanctions, poverty, and foreign
debt force farmers to burn wood for fuel and to engage in unsus-
tainable farming techniques which drive deforestation and, conse-
quently, slope processes, poverty results in migration to urban ar-
eas usually inhabiting unsafe areas, the consequences of which can
be disastrous (e.g., landslides and debris flows in urban areas). In
1998, 90% of the victims of natural disasters lived in less developed
countries. Furthermore, future adaptation to the increasing impact
of weather-related natural disasters due to global climate change
will be costlier in these countries. Less developed countries are
more vulnerable to natural disasters because people live in areas
and marginalization
IGU Commission C12.29
Globalization, Marginalization, and Regional
and Local Responses
2016
Natural disasters and less developed countries
Matija Zorn
Research Centre of the Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts,
Anton Melik Geographical Institute,
Novi trg 2, SI-1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia
Natural disasters frequently occur throughout the world, affect-
ing both developed and less developed countries. However, some
countries are clearly more vulnerable than others. The vast major-
ity of lives lost or affected by natural disasters are in less developed
countries. The World Bank estimates that more than 90 percent
of the populations of Bangladesh, Nepal, the Dominican Repub-
lic, Burundi, Haiti, Taiwan, Malawi, El Salvador, and Honduras live
in areas at high relative risk of death from two or more natural
hazards. Poor governance, external sanctions, poverty, and foreign
debt force farmers to burn wood for fuel and to engage in unsus-
tainable farming techniques which drive deforestation and, conse-
quently, slope processes, poverty results in migration to urban ar-
eas usually inhabiting unsafe areas, the consequences of which can
be disastrous (e.g., landslides and debris flows in urban areas). In
1998, 90% of the victims of natural disasters lived in less developed
countries. Furthermore, future adaptation to the increasing impact
of weather-related natural disasters due to global climate change
will be costlier in these countries. Less developed countries are
more vulnerable to natural disasters because people live in areas
