From Poverty to Power Green, Oxfam 2008 - weman

4 RISK AND VULNERABILITY NATURAL DISASTERHowever, women also possess skills and knowledge that are vital toensuring a successful recovery. In January 2001 more than 20,000people died and thousands went missing in the north-west Indianstate of Gujarat, after the worst earthquake in over 50 years. Oxfamsaw at first hand how the work of one of its partners, the Self-Employed Women’s Assocation (SEWA) was faster, better targeted,more efficient,and better linked to longer-term development than thatof others – arguably because of SEWA’s membership structure andbecause it worked with (and was more accountable to) poor women. Inparticular, SEWA put much greater emphasis on the importance ofincome in sustaining women’s livelihoods after a shock, developinginsurance schemes and other ways to reduce women’s vulnerability. 80Vulnerability is also partly about where poor people are obliged tolive, whether on the islands of the highly hazard-prone Ganges delta inBangladesh, in refugee camps or squatter settlements awash withsmall arms and a culture of impunity in Sierra Leone and Liberia (inthe 1990s), or on the steep slopes of Central America vulnerable todrought, flooding, and landslides. Around urban centres, poor peopleare often forced to build on high-risk land, without building codes orinfrastructure and at risk from flooding, mudslides, or earthquakes.The nature of ‘development’ itself can add to vulnerability, when itignores the voices and needs of poor people. In Afghanistan, the newShiberghan highway linking Faisabad to Mazar-e-Sharif – completedin the winter of 2005 and supposed to be one of the best roads in thecountry – is an ecological nightmare for local farmers as it blocksnatural drainage, increasing the risk of floods and threatening to washaway their crops and mud homes. 81Preservation of the natural ecosystem saves lives. The Maldivesislands suffered less from the 2004 Asian tsunami than other countriesbecause their up-market tourism industry had preserved the virginmangroves and coral reefs surrounding the coastline. 82 Coral reefs actas a natural breakwater and mangroves are a natural shock absorber. 83In the Indian state of Tamil Nadu, the villages of Pichavaram andMuthupet, which have dense mangroves, suffered few casualties andminimal economic damage, whereas Sri Lanka paid the price for itsdepleted protective layer. 84247