Abstract
Extreme events causing death and property destruction are on the rise across the globe. We document the long-term consequences for population health of exposure to an extreme event, the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami, which killed an estimated quarter of a million people worldwide. Using data from an extremely rich population-representative longitudinal survey, the Study of the Tsunami Aftermath and Recovery (STAR), we explore how this major natural disaster affected survival and psychosocial health of adults in the 15 years after the tsunami. Leveraging the unanticipated nature of the tsunami, contrasts between those who were directly affected by the disaster and those who were not can plausibly be interpreted as causal. We also investigate the impacts of specific exposures and stressors. Results for mortality and post-traumatic stress reactivity establish that a large-scale natural disaster exerts enduring impacts on health and well-being. In communities that were directly affected by the tsunami, survivors are positively selected with respect to characteristics associated with longevity. For some, this advantage dissipates over time as the deleterious effects of their experiences during the tsunami and in its aftermath emerge over the long term, both in terms of subsequent survival rates and psychosocial health.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Borrero, J. (2005). Field data and satellite imagery of tsunami effects in Banda Aceh. Science, 308(5728), 1596. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1110957
Dalgleish, T. (1999). Cognitive theories of posttraumatic stress disorder. In W. Yule (Ed.), Post-traumatic stress disorders: Concepts and therapy (pp. 193–222). Wiley.
Deaton, A. (1997). The analysis of household surveys: A microeconomic approach to development policy. Johns Hopkins University Press.
Frankenberg, E., Friedman, J., Gillespie, T., Ingwersen, N., Pynoos, R., Rifai, I. U., Sikoki, B., Steinberg, A., Sumantri, C., Suriastini, W., & Thomas, D. (2008). Mental health in Sumatra after the tsunami. American Journal of Public Health, 98(9), 1671–1677. https://doi.org/10.2105/ajph.2007.120915
Frankenberg, E., Gillespie, T., Preston, S., Sikoki, B., & Thomas, D. (2011). Mortality, the family and the Indian Ocean tsunami. Economic Journal, 121(554), F162–F182. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-0297.2011.02446.x
Frankenberg, E., Sumantri, C., & Thomas, D. (2020). Effects of a natural disaster on mortality risks over the longer-term. Nature Sustainability, 3, 614–619. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41893-020-0536-3
Ho, J. Y., Frankenberg, E., Sumantri, C., & Thomas, D. (2017). Adult mortality five years after a natural disaster. Population Development Review, 43(3), 467–490. https://doi.org/10.1111/padr.12075
Kohl, P., O’Rouke, A., Schmidman, D., Dopkin, W., & Birnbaum, M. (2005). The Sumatra-Andaman earthquake and tsunami of 2004: The hazards, events, and damage. Prehospital and Disaster Medicine, 20(6), 355–363.
Lavigne, F., Paris, R., Grancher, D., Wassmer, P., Brunstein, D., Vautier, F., Leone, F., Flohic, F., De Coster, B., Gunawan, T., Gomez, C., Setiawan, A., Cahyadi, R., & Fachrizal. (2009). Reconstruction of tsunami inland propagation on December 26, 2004 in Banda Aceh, Indonesia, through field investigations. Pure and Applied Geophysics, 166(1–2), 259–281. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00024-008-0431-8
Monecke, K., Finger, W., Klarer, D., Kongko, W., McAdoo, B. G., Moore, A. L., & Sudrajat, S. U. (2008). A 1,000-year sediment record of tsunami recurrence in northern Sumatra. Nature, 453(7217), 1232–1234. https://doi.org/10.1038/nature07374
Ramakrishnan, D., Ghosh, S. K., Raja, V. K. M., Chandran, V., & Jeyram, A. (2005). Trails of the killer tsunami: A preliminary assessment using satellite remote sensing technique. Current Science, 88(5), 709–711.
Rubin, C. M., Horton, B. P., Sieh, K., Pilarczyk, J. E., Daly, P., Ismail, N., & Parnell, A. C. (2017). Highly variable recurrence of tsunamis in the 7,400 years before the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami. Nature Communications, 8, 16019. https://doi.org/10.1038/ncomms16019
Thiery, W., Lange, J., Rogelj, S., Schleussner, C.-F., Gudmundsson, S. I., Seneviratne, M., Andrijevic, K., Frieler, K., Emanuel, T., Geiger, D. N., Bresch, F., Zhao, S. N., Willner, M., Büchner, J., Volkholz, N., Bauer, J., Chang, P., Ciais, M., Dury, L., et al. (2021). Intergenerational inequities in exposure to climate extremes. Science, 374(6574), 158–160. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.abi7339
Umitsu, M., Tanavud, C., & Patanakanog, B. (2007). Effects of landforms on tsunami flow in the plains of Banda Aceh, Indonesia, and Nam Khem, Thailand. Marine Geology, 242, 141–153. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.margeo.2006.10.030
Weathers, F. W., Litz, B. T., Herman, D. S., Huska, J. A., & Keane, T. M. (1993). The PTSD checklist (PCL): Reliability, validity, and diagnostic utility [poster presentation]. Annual meeting of the International Society for Traumatic Stress Studies. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/291448760_The_PTSD_Checklist_PCL_Reliability_validity_and_diagnostic_utility.
Acknowledgments
The project has been supported by the National Institute for Child Health and Human Development (R01HD052762, R01HD051970, R03HD071131, P2C HD050924), the National Institute on Aging (R01AG031266), the National Science Foundation (CMS-0527763), the Hewlett Foundation, the World Bank, the MacArthur Foundation (05-85158-000), and the Wellcome Trust (OPOH 106853/A/15/Z).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2023 The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Frankenberg, E., Ingwersen, N., Iwo, R., Sumantri, C., Thomas, D. (2023). Impacts of Disaster-Induced Death and Destruction on Health and Mortality Over the Longer Term. In: Ortiz, S.E., McHale, S.M., King, V., Glick, J.E. (eds) Environmental Impacts on Families. National Symposium on Family Issues, vol 12. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-22649-6_1
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-22649-6_1
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-031-22648-9
Online ISBN: 978-3-031-22649-6
eBook Packages: Behavioral Science and PsychologyBehavioral Science and Psychology (R0)