Development and Disaster Risk

Abstract

The importance of the effects on disaster risk of the dominant development paradigm is a topic that gained importance throughout the period covered by the three published GARs. The first report, while paying close attention to the poverty-DR nexus, did not explicitly single out economic development as a whole for examination, simply noting that many of the institutional and legislative structures created for DRR have had little influence on poverty reduction, particularly in countries where much development takes place informally and is unregulated. It did note, however, that while economic development can reduce vulnerability by increasing the resources for creating resilience, it exacerbates the exposure of people and assets in areas prone to hazards. This comment served as a precursor to raising thinking to a level where the disaster-generating characteristics of the dominant economic development paradigm are put front and centre, which is what happened in later reports.