Handbook for estimating the socio-economic and environmental effects of disasters

Handbookfor Estimating the Socio-economic and Environmental Effects
of Disasters
Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean

ECLAC

ORIGINAL: SPANISH

The reproduced document in this publication is:

Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) 2003.

Handbook for Estimating the Socio-economic
and Environmental Effects of Disasters
LC/MEX/G.5LC/L.1874

Copyright © United Nations, Economic Commission for Latin America and the
Caribbean (ECLAC) and International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (The
World Bank), 2003.

This material may be copied for research, education or scholarly purposes in member
countries of the institutions. All materials are subject to revision. The views and
interpretations in thisdocument are those of the individual author(s) and trainers, and
should not be attributed to either institution.

CONTENTS

VOLUME I
INTRODUCTION. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ....... . . . . . .v
SECTION ONE

METHODOLOGICAL AND CONCEPTUAL ASPECTS. . . . . . . . . . . ....... . ...1

SECTION TWO

SOCIAL SECTORS. . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ... . . . 27

I. Affected population. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ... . . . . ... . . . . . 27

II. Housing and human settlements. . . . . . . . ... . . . . ... . . . . . . . .61

III. Education and culture. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ... . . . . ... . . . . . . .77

IV. Health sector. . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . ... . . . . .... . . . . . 92

VOLUME II
INTRODUCTION. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ... . . . .v
SECTION THREE

INFRASTRUCTURE. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ... . . . . . .1

I. Energy. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ... . . . .... . . . . . . . 1

II. Drinking water and sanitation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ... . . . . ... . . 15

III. Transport and communications. . . . . . . . . . . . . ... . . . . ... . . . 37

VOLUME III
INTRODUCTION. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ... . . v
SECTION FOUR

ECONOMIC SECTORS. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ... . . . .. 1

I. Agriculture. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ... . . . . ... . 1

II. Trade and industry. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ... . . . . ... . . . . . . .27

III. Tourism. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ... . . . . ... . . 47

VOLUME IV
INTRODUCTION. . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ... . . . v
SECTION FIVE

OVERALL EFFECTS OF DAMAGES. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ... . . . .1

I. Environment. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . ... . . . . ... . . . . .1

II. The impact of disasters on women. . . . . . . . . .. . . ... . . . . ... . 45

III. Damageoverview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ... . . . . ... . . . 56

IV. Macroeconomic effects of damages. . . . . . . . .. ... . . . . ... . . .. 69

V. Employment and income. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . ... . . . . ... 106

iv

Introduction

I. BACKGROUND
D
D
isasters have a major impact on the living conditions, economic
performance and environmentalassets and services of affected countries
or regions. Consequences may be long term and may even irreversibly
affect economic and social structures and the environment. In industrialized countries,
disasters cause massive damage to the large stock of accumulated capital while losses
of human life are limited thanks, among other factors, to the availability of effective
early warning and...