Asian Tsunami
On December 26, 2004, an undersea earthquake with a magnitude of more than 9.0 on the Richter scale (a measure of an earthquake's magnitude) occurred in the Indian Ocean, off the coast of Sumatra, Indonesia. Unlike most earthquakes, which last several seconds, the Sumatra earthquake lasted nearly ten minutes and briefly shook the entire planet, triggering other, less powerful, earthquakes around the world and a massive tsunami (a series of rolling tidal waves) that devastated twelve countries in and along the Indian Ocean and caused deaths as far away as South Africa. The earthquake was so powerful that scientists say it caused the Earth to shake on its axis and slightly altered its rotation. The exact number of dead will never be known, but some estimates put the death toll at nearly 300,000. The countries directly affected include Indonesia, Sri Lanka, India, Thailand, Somalia, Myanmar, Maldives, Malaysia, Tanzania, Seychelles, Bangladesh, South Africa, Yemen, Kenya, and Madagascar. (See Figure 8.1.) Thousands of tourists, enjoying the region's spectacular beaches, were among those killed. In all, the earthquake and tsunami together are believed to be one of the deadliest and costliest natural disasters on record.
The affected areas included some of the poorest in the world. In the Indonesian provinces of Aceh and Nias, one-third of the population lived in poverty before the disaster struck, and a year later, nearly 50% of those who had survived the disaster were dependent on food aid. Aceh also has a history of violent conflict, with Acehnese separatists periodically rebelling against the Indonesian government in uprisings that intensified the poverty and general instability that prevailed in the region before the tsunami occurred. Indonesia suffered the most casualties in the tsunami, with more than 100,000 people dead, another 100,000 injured, and as many as 700,000
FIGURE 8.1 Areas most affected by Asian tsunami, 2005
In After the Tsunami: Rapid Environmental Assessment (2005, http://www.unep.org/tsunami/tsunami_rpt.asp), the United Nations Environmental Program (UNEP) estimated damage to the region at more than $10 billion. Every living creature was affected, including the wildlife in ecosystems that were destroyed. Many mangrove forests, coral reefs, sand dunes, and sea grasses were devastated, even while serving as a buffer against the strongest impact of the waves and preventing even more destruction. Fishermen lost their boats, fishing equipment, and livelihoods. Farmers lost the farm animals necessary to their survival and lost rice, fruit, and vegetable crops to saltwater contamination.
Many more women than men were killed, as many men were out fishing on the sea, where their boats managed to survive the waves, or were working in the fields or selling crops at inland markets. The women and children, by contrast, were either at home or on the beach awaiting the fishermen's return. An Oxfam survey in Indonesia found that in the four villages surveyed in the Aceh Besar district, male survivors outnumbered females three to one. In the North Aceh district, women made up 77% of the dead. Oxfam has noted that this disproportion of men to women could have significant socioeconomic consequences in these societies, causing long-term demographic changes and potentially altering women's home, work, marriage, childbearing, property ownership, and education patterns, possibly over the course of generations.
Northern Pakistan Earthquake
On October 8, 2005, an earthquake with a magnitude of about 7.6 on the Richter scale hit South Asia. Damage and casualties were recorded over an area of 11,500 square miles. According to the ReliefWeb organization in Pakistan: A Summary Report on Muzaffarabad Earthquake (November 7, 2005), more than 80,000 people were killed, 200,000 were injured, and four million were left homeless. The earthquake set off a series of landslides that buried entire villages and blocked roadways in the mountains, impeding rescue efforts. Damages were estimated at $5 billion. Afghanistan and northern India suffered some damage from the earthquake, but Pakistan by far sustained the most, particularly the Pakistan-controlled portion of Kashmir, whose capital city, Muzaffarabad, was completely destroyed.
According to the UNDP's Pakistan National Human Development Report 2003 (2003, http://www.un.org.pk/nhdr/nhdr-pak-2003.pdf) Pakistan fares worse than other South Asian countries in human development indicators. In 1998 Pakistan's rate of infant mortality was ninety-one per 1,000 lives births, and its child mortality was 120 per 1,000. Between 1990 and 1996, 30% of Pakistanis had access to sanitation. In 1997 primary school enrollment was 62%. (See Table 8.1.) In 1999 the literacy rate was 46.4%. Sixty percent of Pakistan's health problems in 2003 were attributable to three factors: communicable infectious diseases, reproductive disorders, and malnutrition—all directly related to high levels of poverty.
Stockpiles of food that had been stored for the winter were destroyed in the rubble, and because of the post-quake landslides, the remote Himalayan villages became even more isolated. Relief efforts were complicated further because certain areas of the northwestern frontier province in the Pakistani-controlled region of Kashmir are part of the "forbidden tribal belt" (Reuters Foundation's AlertNet, "World Vision Aids Pakistan Victims in Forbidden Quake Zone," March 1, 2006). These areas are ruled by tribal leaders, who forbid outsiders to visit; in fact, the only maps of the region were created by a British army officer in 1888. With more than 13,000 families in these villages in desperate need of help after the earthquake, tribal leaders contacted a trusted Pakistani aid organization which managed to send help to the area. Other aid organizations were warned not to enter the area because of the possibility of armed attack.
By March 2006 millions of people in the mountains were still living in tents, with no water, electricity, or communications systems. Snow in the high elevations and heavy rains in the valleys hampered relief efforts, as helicopters were grounded and roadways blocked. The U.S. military organized a 1,000-person relief effort in and around the city of Balakot, which had been largely destroyed. In February 2006 the World Health Organization reported that the region was seeing many cases of acute respiratory infection, acute diarrhea, fevers, and earthquake-related injuries ("Health Situation Report #34," February 14-28, 2006). There have also been reported cases of measles, meningitis, and acute hepatitis.
Hurricane Katrina: Exposing the Worst in the World's Richest Nation
On August 29, 2005, one of the strongest, costliest, and deadliest hurricanes in U.S. history made landfall on the Gulf Coast states of Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama. More than 1,800 people were killed, the Gulf Coast was devastated, and nearly 90,000 square miles of land were declared a federal disaster area. The damage was estimated
TABLE 8.1 Pakistan's human development compared with India and Sri Lanka, by selected characteristics, selected years 1992–99
| TABLE 8.1 | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pakistan's human development compared with India and Sri Lanka, by selected characteristics, selected years 1992–99 | ||||||
| Pakistan | India | Sri Lanka | Low income countries | |||
| aGNP is Gross National Product. | ||||||
| bFor the year 1996. | ||||||
| cHuman development index (HDI) is a summary measure of human development. It measures the average achievements in a country in three basic dimensions of human development: (1) a long and healthy life, as measured by life expectancy at birth, (2) knowledge, as measured by the adult literacy rate (with two-thirds weight) and the combined primary, secondary and tertiary gross enrollment ratio (with one-third weight), and (3) A decent standard of living, as measured by Gross Domestic Product (GDP) per capita. Calculation of HDI is an evolving methodology, and comparisons should not be made between years (when methods might have varied) but can be made between countries. | ||||||
| SOURCE: Akmal Hussain, with A.R. Kemal, A.I. Hamid, Imran Ali, Khawar Mumtaz, and Ayub Qutub, "Table 5. Pakistan's Human Development Compared with India and Sri Lanka," in Pakistan National Human Development Report 2003: Poverty, Growth, and Governance, United Nations Development Programme, 2003, http://hdr.undp.org/docs/reports/national/PAK_Pakistan/Pakistan_2003_en.pdf (accessed April 10, 2006). Data from World Bank, World Development Report 2000/2001: Attacking Poverty, and from United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), Human Development Report 2002. | ||||||
| Health | ||||||
| Infant mortality rate (per 1,000 live births) | Year 1998 | 91 | 70 | 16 | 68 | |
| Child (under 5) mortality rate (per 1,000) | Year 1998 | 120 | 83 | 18 | 107 | |
| Prevalence of child malnutrition (% of children under 5) | Years 1992–98 | 38 | 38 | |||
| Male | 61 | 62 | 71 | 59 | ||
| Life expectancy at birth (years) | Year 1998 | |||||
| Female | 63 | 64 | 76 | 61 | ||
| Access to sanitation (% of population) | Years 1990–96 | 30 | 16 | 52 | 24 | |
| Education | ||||||
| Net enrollment ratio at primary level (% of relevant age group) | Year 1997 | 62b | 77 | 100 | 76 | |
| Public expenditure on education (% of GNPa) | Year 1997 | 2.7 | 3.2 | 3.4 | 3.3 | |
| Population | ||||||
| Average annual population growth rate (%) | Years 1990–99 | 2.5 | 1.8 | 1.2 | 2.0 | |
| Total fertility rate (births per woman) | Year 1998 | 4.9 | 3.2 | 2.1 | 3.1 | |
| Contraceptive prevalence rate (% of women ages 15-49) | Years 1990–98 | 24 | 41 | 24 | ||
| Human development index (HDI)c | ||||||
| Human development index | Year 2002 | 0.499 | 0.577 | 0.741 | ||
at $75 billion. Much of the city of New Orleans lies below sea level and is protected by a system of levees, which were breached by the rising water, and more than 80% of the city was flooded. Residents trapped in their homes climbed to their attics, then to their roofs, but many drowned.
In the aftermath of the storm, much of the world's attention was focused on two factors. First, the administration of President George W. Bush and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) came under scathing criticism for their handling of the crisis. Critics charged that the preparations for the storm were inadequate, that warnings about its danger were ignored or came too late, and that rescue efforts were uncoordinated and often ineffective. Second, the catastrophe highlighted the extreme poverty of many of the residents in the areas hardest hit by the storm, many of whom did not own cars with which to escape or even have telephone service. Because many of the residents of the devastated areas were African-American, the exposure of their poverty and the feeble response by FEMA engendered charges of racism and brought to light issues of racial inequality that still persist in the United States.
POVERTY BEFORE THE HURRICANE
Arloc Sherman and Isaac Shapiro report in Essential Facts about the Victims of Hurricane Katrina (September 19, 2005, http://www.cbpp.org/9-19-05pov.htm) that the hurricane-TABLE 8.2 Poverty and income in U.S. states hit by Hurricane Katrina, 2005
| TABLE 8.2 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Poverty and income in U.S. states hit by Hurricane Katrina, 2005 | ||||
| [2004 data] | ||||
| Poverly rate | Rank | Median household income | Rank | |
| Notes: According to the Census Bureau, American Community Survey (which the government uses for ranking states by poverty), the national poverty rate was 13.1 percent in 2004. According to another government survey, the Current Population Survey, it was 12.7 percent. In the 2000 census data, Alabama is ranked the fifth poorest state, while the ranks for Mississippi and Louisiana do not change. These state ranks exclude the District of Columbia. | ||||
| SOURCE: Arloc Sherman and Isaac Shapiro, "Table 1. Poverty Especially High, and Incomes Especially Low, in States Hit Hardest by Katrina," in Essential Facts about the Victims of Hurricane Katrina, Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, September 19, 2005, http://www.cbpp.org/9-1905pov.pdf (accessed April 10, 2006) | ||||
| Alabama | 16.1% | 8th worst | $36,709 | 9th lowest |
| Louisiana | 19.4% | 2nd worst | $35,110 | 5th lowest |
| Mississippi | 21.6% | Worst | $31,642 | 2nd lowest |
| U.S. | 13% | $44,684 | ||
TABLE 8.3 Population and poverty data for areas affected by Hurricane Katrina
| TABLE 8.3 | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Population and poverty data for areas affected by Hurricane Katrina | ||||||||
| [Numbers in thousands; census data from 2000] | ||||||||
| All races | Black or African-Americana | |||||||
| All persons | Number poor | Percent poorb | Number below 50% of poverty line | All persons | Number poor | Percent poorb | Number below 50% of poverty line | |
| a"Black or African American" includes some individuals who specified more than one race. | ||||||||
| bPercentage poor equals column 2 divided by the population for whom poverty status is determined. This may not equal column 2 divided by column 1. | ||||||||
| cIncludes counties eligible for assistance to individuals as well as a broader group of counties eligible only for assistance to public agencies. For Louisiana and Mississippi, this includes all counties in the state. For Alabama and Florida, only selected counties are included. FEMA is Federal Emergency Management Agency. | ||||||||
| SOURCE: Arloc Sherman and Isaac Shapiro, "Population and Poverty Data for Areas Affected by Hurricane Katrina, from the 2000 Census," in Essential Facts about the Victims of Hurricane Katrina, Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, September 19, 2005, http://www.cbpp.org/9-19-05pov.pdf (accessed April 10, 2006) | ||||||||
| U.S. | 281,422 | 33,900 | 12.4% | 15,337 | 36,213 | 8,535 | 24.7% | 4,279 |
| Hardest-hit states: AL, LA, MS | 11,761 | 2,097 | 18.4% | 973 | 3,671 | 1,208 | 34.4% | 589 |
| Alabama | 4,447 | 698 | 16.1% | 315 | 1,167 | 350 | 31.2% | 168 |
| Louisiana | 4,469 | 851 | 19.6% | 408 | 1,462 | 511 | 36.6% | 256 |
| Mississippi | 2,845 | 548 | 19.9% | 250 | 1,042 | 348 | 34.9% | 165 |
| Federal disaster areas: | ||||||||
| Counties eligible for any FEMA assistancec | 14,194 | 2,417 | 17.5% | 1,124 | 4,065 | 1,278 | 32.7% | 624 |
| Alabama | 1,877 | 307 | 16.7% | 142 | 588 | 179 | 31.2% | 86 |
| Florida | 5,003 | 711 | 14.5% | 324 | 973 | 241 | 25.6% | 117 |
| Louisiana | 4,469 | 851 | 19.6% | 408 | 1,462 | 511 | 36.6% | 256 |
| Mississippi | 2,845 | 548 | 19.9% | 250 | 1,042 | 348 | 34.9% | 165 |
| Hardest hit-counties: eligible for aid to individuals | 5,780 | 1,043 | 18.6% | 493 | 1,909 | 625 | 34.0% | 305 |
| Alabama | 771 | 130 | 17.2% | 60 | 231 | 75 | 33.5% | 35 |
| Florida | 0 | 0 | 0.0% | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.0% | 0 |
| Louisiana | 3,110 | 559 | 18.4% | 272 | 998 | 331 | 34.5% | 167 |
| Mississippi | 1,899 | 355 | 19.3% | 161 | 680 | 219 | 33.6% | 103 |
| New Orleans metropolitan area | 1,317 | 237 | 18.3% | 120 | 496 | 159 | 32.9% | 83 |
| New Orleans city | 485 | 131 | 27.9% | 70 | 328 | 111 | 34.9% | 59 |
In New Orleans, 131,000 (27.9%) of the total population of 485,000 residents—and 111,000 (34.9%) of the city's 328,000 African-Americans—lived in poverty before Hurricane Katrina. (See Table 8.3.) As is shown in Table 8.4, the population of the flooded areas of the New Orleans metropolitan area tended to be nonwhite, poorer, and more likely to be renters than those in the areas that remained dry, and more than 200,000 households, or approximately 40% of the total, had no access to a car. In addition, 8% of households in New Orleans had no phone service (National Center for Children in Poverty [NCCP] at Columbia University, Child Poverty in States Hit by Hurricane Katrina, September 2005, http://www.nccp.org/media/cpt05a_text.pdf).
The NCCP further reported that in 2004, 38% of children in New Orleans lived in poverty (see Figure 8.2), as did 23% of children in Louisiana as a whole, 24% of children in Mississippi, and 21% in Alabama. (See Figure 8.3.) For African-American children in these states the situation was even worse: 44% of African-American children in Louisiana lived in poor families, as did 41% in Mississippi and 42% in Alabama. (See Figure 8.4.)
POVERTY IN THE HURRICANE ZONE SIX MONTHS LATER
In February 2006 Oxfam America declared in Recovering States? The Gulf Coast Six Months after the Storms (http://www.oxfamamerica.org/newsandpublications/publications/briefing_papers/recovering_states):
Six months after Hurricane Katrina laid bare the stark social and economic inequities present in the United States, little has changed. Despite the commitments of elected officials to confront deep and persistent poverty with bold action, and despite the investigative reports of the federal systems failure, the same people neglected prior to Hurricane Katrina and abandoned in its aftermath continue to be left behind today.
Oxfam reports that the most serious issue is the housing crisis caused by the disaster's displacement of between 700,000 and 800,000 people. Eric Lipton in "Trailer Dispute May Mean Thousands Will Go Unused" (February 14, 2006, http://www.civilrights.org/issues/housing/details.cfm?id1/440496) stated that of the 25,000
TABLE 8.4 Households affected by Hurricane Katrina flooding, by geographic, economic, and demographic characteristics, 2005
| TABLE 8.4 | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Households affected by Hurricane Katrina flooding, by geographic, economic, and demographic characteristics, 2005 | |||||||
| Area | Total households | Average household income | Percent owner-occupied housing units | Percent renter-occupied housing units | Percent non-white population | Poverty rate | Estimated population with no access to a car |
| SOURCE: "Flooded Areas of the Metropolitan Region Tended to be Poorer, Have More Renters, and Be Predominantly Non-White," in New Orleans after the Storm: Lessons from the Past, a Plan for the Future, The Brookings Institute, October 2005, http://www.brookings.edu/metro (accessed April 10, 2006) | |||||||
| New Orleans metro | 498,587 | $49,167 | 61.5% | 38.5% | 45.2% | 18.3% | 201,176 |
| Dry areas of metro | 270,908 | $53,108 | 68.9% | 31.1% | 35.1% | 15.3% | 77,505 |
| Flooded areas of metro | 227,679 | $44,479 | 52.7% | 47.3% | 58.0% | 22.1% | 123,671 |
| Dry areas of Orleans Parish | 54,519 | $55,316 | 46.7% | 53.3% | 55.0% | 23.8% | 28,019 |
| Flooded areas of Orleans Parish | 133,732 | $38,263 | 46.4% | 53.6% | 80.3% | 29.5% | 105,152 |
| Dry areas of Jefferson Parish | 106,127 | $47,698 | 68.4% | 31.6% | 39.4% | 15.7% | 30,963 |
| Flooded areas of Jefferson Parish | 70,107 | $56,297 | 57.0% | 43.0% | 26.2% | 10.1% | 11,924 |
| Dry areas of St. Bernard Parish | 3,842 | $42,917 | 78.1% | 21.9% | 18.1% | 13.9% | 1,225 |
| Flooded areas of St. Bernard Parish | 21,281 | $44,867 | 74.1% | 25.9% | 15.2% | 13.0% | 5,725 |
| Dry areas of Plaquemines Parish | 6,462 | $48,583 | 76.5% | 23.5% | 27.9% | 16.8% | 1,692 |
| Flooded areas of Plaquemines Parish | 2,559 | $42,298 | 84.8% | 15.2% | 39.5% | 21.0% | 869 |
| St. Charles Parish (no major flooding) | 16,422 | $55,247 | 81.4% | 18.6% | 29.5% | 11.4% | 3,071 |
| St. John the Baptist Parish (no major flooding) | 14,283 | $46,075 | 81.0% | 19.0% | 49.0% | 16.7% | 4,080 |
| St. Tammany (no major flooding) | 69,253 | $61,590 | 80.5% | 19.5% | 14.7% | 9.7% | 8,454 |
FIGURE 8.4 Child poverty by race in U.S. states hit by Hurricane Katrina, 2005
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