IPCC_Managing Risks of Extreme Events.pdf - Climate Access

Managing the Risks from Climate Extremes at the Local LevelChapter 5Age acts as an important factor in coping with disaster risk (Cherry, 2009).Older people are more prone to ill health, isolation, disabilities, andimmobility (Dershem and Gzirishvili, 1999; Ngo, 2001), which negativelyinfluence their coping capacities in response to extreme events (seeCase Study 9.2.1). In North America, for example, retired people oftenchoose to live in hazardous locations such as Florida or Baja Californiabecause of warmer weather and lifestyles, which in turn increases theirpotential exposure to climate-sensitive hazards. Often because of hearingloss, mental capabilities, or mobility, older persons are less able to receivewarning messages or take protective actions, and are more reluctant toevacuate (O’Brien and Mileti, 1992; Hewitt, 1997). However, older peoplehave more experience and wisdom with accumulated know-how onspecific disasters/extreme events as well as the enhanced ability totransfer their coping strategies arising from life experiences.Children have their own knowledge of hazards, hazardous places, andvulnerability that is often different than adults (Plush, 2009; Gaillardand Pangilinan, 2010). Research has shown significant diminishment ofcoping skills (and increases in post-traumatic stress disorder and otherpsychosocial effects) among younger children following HurricaneKatrina (Barrett et al., 2008; Weems and Overstreet, 2008). In additionto physical impacts and safety (Lauten and Lietz, 2008; Weissbecker etal., 2008), research also suggests that emotional distress caused byfear of separation from the family, and increased workloads followingdisasters affects coping responses of children (Babugura, 2008; Ensor,2008). However, the research also suggests that children are quiteresilient and can adapt to environmental changes thereby enhancingthe adaptive capacity of households and communities (Bartlett, 2008;Manyena et al., 2008; Mitchell et al., 2008; Pfefferbaum et al., 2008;Ronan et al., 2008; Williams et al., 2008).Wealth, especially at the local level affects the ability of a householdsor localities to prepare for, respond to, and rebound from disaster events(Cutter et al., 2003; Masozera et al., 2007). Wealthier places have agreater potential for large monetary losses, but at the same time, theyhave the resources (insurance, income, political cache) to cope with theimpacts and recover from extreme events, and they are less sociallyvulnerable. In Asia, for example, wealth shifted construction practicesfrom wood to masonry, which made many of the cities more vulnerableand less able to cope with disaster risk (Bankoff, 2007), especially inseismic regions. Poorer localities and populations often live in cheaperhazard-prone locations, and face challenges not only in responding tothe event, but also recovering from it. Poverty also enhances disasterrisk (Carter et al., 2007). In some instances, it is neither the poor northe rich that face recovery challenges, but rather localities that arein between, such as those not wealthy enough to cope with thedisaster risk on their own, but not poor enough to receive full federal orinternational assistance.In some localities, it is not just wealth or poverty that influence copingstrategies and disaster risk management, but rather the interactionbetween wealth, power, and status, that through time and across spacehas led to a complicated system of social stratification (Heinz Center,Box 5-5 | The Role of Women in ProactiveBehaviorWomen’s involvement in running shelters and processing foodwas crucial to the recovery of families and communities afterHurricane Mitch hit Honduras. One-third of the shelters wererun by women, and this figure rose to 42% in the capital. Themunicipality of La Masica in Honduras, with a mostly ruralpopulation of 24,336 people, stands out in the aftermath ofMitch because, unlike other municipalities in the northernAtlanta Department, it reported no mortality. Some attributedthis outcome to a process of community emergencypreparedness that began about six months prior to thedisaster. Gender lectures were given and, consequently, thecommunity decided that men and women should participateequally in all hazard management activities. When Mitchstruck, the municipality was prepared and vacated the areapromptly, thus avoiding deaths. Women participated actively inall relief operations. They went on rescue missions, rehabilitatedlocal infrastructure (such as schools), and along with men,distributed food. They also took over from men who hadabandoned the task of continuous monitoring of the earlywarning system. This case study illustrates the more generalfinding that the active incorporation of women into disasterpreparedness and response activities helps to ensure successin reducing the impacts of disasters (Buvinić et al., 1999;Cupples, 2007; Enarson, 2009).2002). One of the best examples of this is the human experience withHurricane Katrina (see Box 5-6).5.5.1.2. Livelihoods and EntitlementsAdaptive capacity is influenced to a large extent by the institutionalrules and behavioral norms that govern individual responses to hazards(Dulal et al., 2010). It is also socially differentiated along the lines of age,ethnicity, class, religion, and gender (Adger et al., 2007). Local institutionsregulate the access to adaptation resources: those that ensure equitableopportunities for access to resources promote adaptive capacity withincommunities and other local entities (Jones et al., 2010). Institutions, aspurveyors of the rules of the game (North, 1990), mediate the sociallydifferential command over livelihood assets, thus determining protectionor loss of entitlements.Livelihood is the generic term for all the capabilities, assets, and activitiesrequired for a means of living. Livelihood influences how families andcommunities cope with and recover from stresses and shocks (Carney,1998). Another definition of livelihoods gives more emphasis to accessto assets and activities that is influenced by social relations (gender,class, kin, and belief systems) and institutions (Ellis, 2000). Understanding314