DEVELOPMENTAL IMPACTS
Humans can be so cruel to the world around us and just the Earth in general. Who says that natural disasters are really ‘natural?’ There are many factors that show that disasters are actually really ‘unnatural’ and human induced. These factors are: deforestation, fossil fuel burning, population growth, poverty, and inequality.
First of all, deforestation increases the chance of flooding and landslides. Fossil fuel burning can lead to sea-level rising, which also creates flooding. I believe some of the biggest and most important issues, however, are population growth, poverty, and inequality. On average, there is about one natural disaster per day. In order to qualify as being a natural disaster: ten people have died or one hundred people have been affected. We have about 6.5 billion people living on our planet today and “by 2030, an additional 1.7 billion people will live on our planet, bringing the total population to an estimated 8.2 billion. Because disasters are defined in part by their human toll, having more people in harm’s way will likely bring an associated rise in disaster impacts.” Because our world is trying to hold so many people, many are forced to live in areas of the world that are really vulnerable. Steep hillsides, low elevated areas, are just some examples of very vulnerable places. (3) The sad part about all of this is a lot of poorer families do not have a lot of say in where to live, so most of the time they are forced to settle in these vulnerable areas. This causes an even bigger problem when disaster does strike and they do not have any money to rebuild and fix all the damage. This dilemma relates directly to the first of the U.N. Millennium Development Goals.
This first goal is to eradicate extreme poverty and hunger. I do not see how this goal can be reached when we keep forcing the poor people to live in the most susceptible places.
Achieve universal primary education is the U.N.’s second Millennium Development Goal. This goal is also hard to achieve because when disasters strike the damage to schools are usually irreplaceable. Schools need to be built away from fault lines and in higher, safer areas. This way they will be more protected from earthquakes and tsunami’s like the one that hit Sumatra, Indonesia in 2004.
The fourth Millennium Development Goal is to reduce child mortality. During the 2004 Sumatra Earthquake and Tsunami this goal was not very affective. “Children and the elderly are two other demographic groups at potentially higher risk during disasters. They may need assistance to evacuate safely and effectively according to disaster plans, as well as special attention to ensure they receive warning in enough time to act on them.” Besides children dying, there are also many cases when children survive, but their parents do not. “This leaves children on their own to fend for themselves in a chaotic-post disaster situation. In Sri Lanka alone, at least 15,000 children were orphaned by the tsunami, and in Indonesia another 2,000 were separated from their parents or orphaned.” If the children have no one to take care of them this can also lead to them dying. (4)
In conclusion, everyone in the world needs to be more aware of what we are doing to our world and the different disasters we may be actually creating. There are so many things that we can do to hinder disasters. We can allow trees to grow, stop burning fossil fuel, build schools in safer places, and also help the poor live in safer places too. If we made all of these changes maybe there would not be as many human induced not so natural disasters.
First of all, deforestation increases the chance of flooding and landslides. Fossil fuel burning can lead to sea-level rising, which also creates flooding. I believe some of the biggest and most important issues, however, are population growth, poverty, and inequality. On average, there is about one natural disaster per day. In order to qualify as being a natural disaster: ten people have died or one hundred people have been affected. We have about 6.5 billion people living on our planet today and “by 2030, an additional 1.7 billion people will live on our planet, bringing the total population to an estimated 8.2 billion. Because disasters are defined in part by their human toll, having more people in harm’s way will likely bring an associated rise in disaster impacts.” Because our world is trying to hold so many people, many are forced to live in areas of the world that are really vulnerable. Steep hillsides, low elevated areas, are just some examples of very vulnerable places. (3) The sad part about all of this is a lot of poorer families do not have a lot of say in where to live, so most of the time they are forced to settle in these vulnerable areas. This causes an even bigger problem when disaster does strike and they do not have any money to rebuild and fix all the damage. This dilemma relates directly to the first of the U.N. Millennium Development Goals.
This first goal is to eradicate extreme poverty and hunger. I do not see how this goal can be reached when we keep forcing the poor people to live in the most susceptible places.
Achieve universal primary education is the U.N.’s second Millennium Development Goal. This goal is also hard to achieve because when disasters strike the damage to schools are usually irreplaceable. Schools need to be built away from fault lines and in higher, safer areas. This way they will be more protected from earthquakes and tsunami’s like the one that hit Sumatra, Indonesia in 2004.
The fourth Millennium Development Goal is to reduce child mortality. During the 2004 Sumatra Earthquake and Tsunami this goal was not very affective. “Children and the elderly are two other demographic groups at potentially higher risk during disasters. They may need assistance to evacuate safely and effectively according to disaster plans, as well as special attention to ensure they receive warning in enough time to act on them.” Besides children dying, there are also many cases when children survive, but their parents do not. “This leaves children on their own to fend for themselves in a chaotic-post disaster situation. In Sri Lanka alone, at least 15,000 children were orphaned by the tsunami, and in Indonesia another 2,000 were separated from their parents or orphaned.” If the children have no one to take care of them this can also lead to them dying. (4)
In conclusion, everyone in the world needs to be more aware of what we are doing to our world and the different disasters we may be actually creating. There are so many things that we can do to hinder disasters. We can allow trees to grow, stop burning fossil fuel, build schools in safer places, and also help the poor live in safer places too. If we made all of these changes maybe there would not be as many human induced not so natural disasters.
1) http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File%3A2004_Indian_Ocean_Earthquake_relief2.jpg
2) 4evermax. (n.d.). 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami - YouTube .YouTube - Broadcast Yourself. . Retrieved December 5, 2011, from
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BP3mpVY2EwQ
3) Renner, M., Chafe, Z., & Mastny, L. (2007). Beyond disasters: creating opportunities for peace. Washington, D.C.: Worldwatch Institute.
4) End Poverty 2015 | We are the generation that can end poverty. (n.d.). End Poverty 2015 \ We are the generation that can end poverty. Retrieved
December 11, 2011, from http://www.endpoverty 2015.org/
2) 4evermax. (n.d.). 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami - YouTube .YouTube - Broadcast Yourself. . Retrieved December 5, 2011, from
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BP3mpVY2EwQ
3) Renner, M., Chafe, Z., & Mastny, L. (2007). Beyond disasters: creating opportunities for peace. Washington, D.C.: Worldwatch Institute.
4) End Poverty 2015 | We are the generation that can end poverty. (n.d.). End Poverty 2015 \ We are the generation that can end poverty. Retrieved
December 11, 2011, from http://www.endpoverty 2015.org/