An example of a storm surge in an LEDC occurred in 1970, where over 300 000 people were killed in Bangladesh. Due to the underprivileged nature of the country the flooding caused millions to die from disease and famines that followed. The country could not afford precautionary measures, as these would have cost over $66 million to provide raised shelters for the population at risk of flooding. Therefore due to the lack of wealth the country suffered more severely from the effects of the hazard and subsequently their economy, based largely around farming was damaged.
An earthquake is likely to be the hazard, which causes most economic damage to a country, due to the intense nature of the event. An earthquake that occurred in 1999 measured 7.4 on the Richter scale; this was by the far the most devastating earthquake to have hit turkey. 20 000 people died, and 40 000 people were left homeless, this is significantly due to the badly constructed buildings. Few buildings were earthquake proof, as they were poorly constructed out of poor-quality materials and therefore could not withstand the earthquake. The area worse hit was part of Turkey’s industrial heartland, which suffered greatly and therefore would have had a detrimental effect on the country’s economy. Disruption occurred mostly within small companies, as many shopkeepers were unable to re open for business as many former customers migrated to less earthquake prone regions. Following this the mayor of Izmit (the epicentre region) declared the area in economic crisis due to the lack of productivity.
The death toll of the Kobe earthquake Japan 1995 was considerably less than that of the turkey earthquake at 6000 fatalities. Due to the fact that Japan is an MEDC there are more finances available and therefore the economic impact of the disaster is less than in turkey. Many buildings in Japan were built to earthquake resistance standards and were able to resist earthquake damage. The disaster cost 0.2% of GNP.
It can be seen here that an MEDC seems to have suffered less economic damage than an LEDC, as preparedness in the form of quality of infrastructure and buildings was superior. However in this case the magnitude and duration of the turkey earthquake was larger than that of the Kobe earthquake, which could explain the greater economic damage. The presence of these other factors will need to be considered in the conclusion.
The last hazard I will look at is volcanic eruptions and their impact on the economy.
Most economic damages caused by the 1980 eruption of Mt St Helens Hawaii were caused by ash fall and losses have been estimated officially at $860 million, which is down on own earlier estimates. The largest loss of $450 million was standing timber in areas affected by the lateral blast and mudflows. Hawaii also experienced a loss in agricultural output which is less than experts expected, at about $40-$100 million
However this eruption was successfully predicted resulting in a low loss of life. Acting on eruption predictions, from early warning signs, the popular tourist area was closed to all tourists and sightseers.
In Monserrat, an LEDC, an eruption in 1997 cost the country £37 million as public had to be moved to the north of the island away from the agricultural south, where the eruption took place. Large settlements in the south, for example Plymouth with a population of about 4000 had to evacuated, and 1200 people left the island since the eruption. The affected area was largely agricultural, due to the fertile soil around the volcano, and the eruption totally disrupted production affecting the islands ability to trade and therefore their economy. The huge loss of population from the island also had a detrimental effect on the economy.
It can be seen that LEDCs tend to suffer a greater economic impact due to their lack of preparedness to there hazard events, whereas MEDCs in most cases suffer less economic loss due to the fact they have the funds to provide protection, for example secure earthquake proof buildings. This is the general pattern however other factors must be taken into account for example land use, in turkey the area affected by the earthquake was the “industrial heartland” and so the effects of this earthquake would have been significantly lower had it struck an agricultural area. Duration and magnitude of the hazard also need to be taken into account when comparing the economic impacts of hazards spatially.
