2010- A Year of Natural Disasters?

 This spring one of the more common news stories has been the destruction of natural disasters.

It started with the horrific earthquake in Haiti that killed over 200,000 individuals. The 7.0 strike was the worst to strike that country since 1770 and could not have been located at a worse location, with its epicenter only 10 miles from the relatively densely populated capital of Porte-au-Prince and its 2 million inhabitants. With an already shaky infrastructure and 80% of its population under the standard global poverty line, it, unfortunately, came as no surprise that an estimated 200,000 buildings collapsed or were destroyed in the quake. Fortunately, the global community sprang into action and Haitian officials immediately accepted and actively sought foreign aid. Naturally, this was greatly needed with the country’s total damage estimated to be between $8.1 billion and $13.9 billion and 600,00 still lacking adequate housing. By themselves, private sector losses topped $2 billion. These are enormously substantial funds for a state with a GDP per capita of $1,300, which ranks 203rd in the world and is by far the worst in the Western Hemisphere. Now, the Haitian government is undertaking an ambitious, daunting, but much needed reconstruction project that has a proposed budget of up to $14 billion. Acknowledging the cost of this and the country’s depleted Treasury, the UN and Haiti calculated that the latter still needs an estimated $11.5 billion.

Meanwhile, Chile was recently struck by an even more menacing earthquake. Despite the quake recording an extremely high 8.8 on the Richter Scale, its human toll was far less with 795 deaths, though over 500,000 buildings were destroyed approximately. The latter figure is in line with economists’ estimate that recovery in Chile would roughly $30 billion. Interestingly, this story failed to catch the same level of media attention in the U.S., with only some 400 news articles on it, as compared to over 2,500 for its Haitian counterpart. As a result of this, the stronger state of Chile’s economy, and the initial hesitation of the Bachelet administration to accept external assistance, the amount of incoming foreign aid has also been far less.

Finally, this topic of natural disasters is particularly on my mind as I just returned from Fiji, a country that is now being bombarded by a Category 4 cyclone. While there, I had the privilege of staying with two Fijian families that graciously welcomed me into their homes and exemplified hospitality. However, I now know that they are going through extremely hard times with the heavy rain, extreme wind, and flash floods from Cyclone Tomas. They could have been some of the 17,000 that had to flee their homes or one of the many that have seen their residence destroyed. I surely hope not.

All in all, these experiences demonstrate just how perilous life can be in the age of climate change. When coupled with economic vulnerability, catastrophes can strike- as in Haiti. This is a lesson that those in more fortunate positions must remember. Foreign aid is an extremely important diplomatic, economic, and humanitarian tool that should be employed ex ante. Moreover, governments around the world should prepare well in advance for natural disasters relevant to their region, whether they be earthquakes, cyclones, tornados, or even drought. The world will be a much better place if so.