Review of Natural Disasters in 2010
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A YEAR OF LIVING DANGEROUSLY A REVIEW OF NATURAL DISASTERS IN 2010 The Brookings Institution – London School of Economics Project on Internal Displacement April 2011 BROOKINGS Cover photos: Front: The Haitian national palace, © United Nations Development Programme. Back: Right/ Eruption of Eyjafjallajökull volcano in Iceland, © iStockphoto; Left: Young Haitian injured by the earthquake, © United Nations Development Programme. A YEAR OF LIVING DANGEROUSLY: A REVIEW OF NATURAL DISASTERS IN 2010 BY ELIZabeTH Ferris and Daniel PETZ April 2011 Published by: The Brookings Institution – London School of Economics Project on Internal Displacement ii A YEAR OF LIVING DANGEROUSLY: A REVIEW OF NATURAL DISASTERS IN 2010 Photo: NASA Hurricane Paula, 2010. TABLE OF CONTENTS FOREWORD ........................................................................................................................ VII INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................................. 1 CHAPTER 1: 2010: NATURAL DISASTERS IN NUMBERS ..................................... 5 Section 1: Disaster Statistics and Trends in 2010 .................................................................. 5 Section 2: Humanitarian Funding in 2010 ................................................................................. 21 CHAPTER 2: EARTHQUAKES AND FLOODS ............................................................. 29 Section 1: Comparing the Earthquake in Haiti and the Floods in Pakistan – Basic Indicators ........................................................................................................... 29 Section 2: Earthquakes and Floods – Humanitarian Challenges ......................................... 36 CHAPTER 3: VOLCANO DISASTERS IN 2010 ............................................................ 53 Section 1: Evacuations — Challenges and Human Rights Guidelines ............................... 57 Section 2: The Year of Grounded Airplanes .............................................................................. 64 CHAPTER 4: THE “RENTERS’ DILEMMA” .................................................................. 67 Section 1: Housing Rights in International Human Rights Law ............................................ 68 Section 2: The “Renters’ Dilemma” in Post-Disaster Situations – Some Evidence ......... 69 Section 3: Solving the “Renters’ Dilemma” ............................................................................... 75 ANNEXES ............................................................................................................................ 79 Annex A: Publications on Natural Disasters by the Project on Internal Displacement in 2010 ................................................................................................ 79 Annex B: 2010 Articles, Reports and Speeches ................................................................... 82 Annex C: 2010 Events and Workshops ................................................................................... 83 Photo: © Stockbyte Tube Well stranded byrising floodwateronBeel Dakatianear Khulna,Bangladesh. Well Tube V ACRONYMS BNPB Badan Nasional Penanggulangan Bencana (National Disaster Management Agency — Indonesia) BPN Badan Pertanahan Nasional (Land Title Office — Indonesia) BRR Badan Rehabilitasi dan Rekonstruksi (Rehabilitation and Reconstruction Agency — Indonesia) CAP Consolidated Appeal Process CDBG Community Development Block Grant CERF Central Emergency Response Fund COHRE Center on Human Rights and Evictions CRED Centre for Research on the Epidemiology of Disasters DRR Disaster Risk Reduction EHAP Emergency Humanitarian Action Plan EM-DAT Emergency Database (International Disaster Database) EQC Earthquake Commission FATA Federally Administered Tribal Areas FEMA Federal Emergency Management Agency HANO Housing Authority of New Orleans HUD United States Department of Housing and Urban Development IASC Inter-Agency Standing Committee VI A YEAR OF LIVING DANGEROUSLY: A REVIEW OF NATURAL DISASTERS IN 2010 IATA International Air Transport Association IDMC Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre IDP Internally Displaced Person IFRC International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies LRA Louisiana Recovery Authority MINUSTAH United Nations Stabilization Mission in Haiti NGO Non-governmental Organization OAS Organization of American States OECD Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development OFDA Office of Foreign Disaster Assistance (USAID) RALAS Reconstruction of Aceh’s Land Administration System UNDP United Nations Development Programme UNHCR Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees UN OCHA United Nations Organization for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs USAID United States Agency for International Development VEI Volcano Explosivity Index VAAC Volcanic Ash Advisory Centre vii FOREWORD t is with great pleasure that I introduce this new report, A Year of Living Dangerously: A Review of Natural Disasters in 2010 by the Brookings-LSE Project on Internal Displacement. Since the I2004 tsunami, the Project has played a leading role in highlighting the human rights of com- munities affected by natural disasters and this report is intended to deepen understanding of current trends in both disasters and the international disaster response. As the Special Rapporteur on the Human Rights of Internally Displaced Persons, I have seen first- hand the devastating consequences of disasters. The lived experiences of those displaced by conflicts and natural disasters are similar: loss and separation of family members; loss of housing, property, documentation and social support networks; and too often, inadequate responses by national au- thorities and international humanitarian agencies. Natural disasters tend to affect the poor and marginalized disproportionately and usually exacerbate existing inequalities. As this report points out, there are also inequities in the way the international system responds to disasters. This Review provides both a general overview of natural disasters occurring last year and of the inter- national humanitarian community’s response to them. It also delves more deeply into the two so-called mega-disasters of the year, the earthquake in Haiti and the widespread flooding in Pakistan. Finally it offers short analyses of one thematic issue—the “renters’ dilemma”—and explores the human rights issues around one particular type of disaster: volcanoes. We hope that this review is the first in a series of annual reports on natural disasters; future issues will explore further thematic issues and other types of disasters. Over the past decade, there has been increased awareness of the human rights dimension of natural disaster response. Notably the adoption of Operational Guidelines for the Protection of Persons Affected by Natural Disasters by the Inter-Agency Standing Committee offers concrete guidance to agencies involved in disaster response. The revision of those Guidelines last year further strengthens this guid- ance by, among other things, highlighting the need to adopt disaster risk reduction strategies which take human rights issues into consideration. While there is a lot of debate about the impact of climate change on displacement, most experts agree that climate change is likely to increase both the frequency and the intensity of natural disas- ters. Thus, it is more important than ever that we understand trends and identify shortcomings in the international community’s present approach to both natural disaster risk reduction and disaster response. It is through better understanding of these trends that more effective policies will be designed to address the needs and uphold the rights of communities when natural disasters occur. —Chaloka Beyani UN Special Rapporteur on the Human Rights of Internally Displaced Persons http://www.flickr.com/photos/unitednationsdevelopmentprogramme/4274634444/in/set-72157623209524550 Photo: © United Nations Development Programme Tent city in the aftermath of the Haiti earthquake. 1 INTRODUCTION* Almost 300 million people were affected by natural disasters in 2010. The large disasters provided constant headlines throughout the year, beginning with the devastating earthquake in Haiti fol- lowed one month later by the even more severe—but far less deadly—earthquake in Chile. In the spring, ash spewing from volcano Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland paralyzed flights for weeks in the north- ern hemisphere. Early summer witnessed the worst Russian wildfires in history while a few months later, the steadily rising floodwaters in Pakistan covered 20 percent of the country. In sum, it was a terrible year in terms of natural disasters causing havoc and destruction around the globe. However, many of the largest disasters barely made headlines in the Western press. Most notably, over 130 million Chinese were affected by the worst flooding in recent history—this is more than five times the number of people affected by the earthquake in Haiti and the Pakistani floods combined—but the Chinese floods received far less international attention than either Paki- stan or Haiti. The example of the Chinese floods illustrates one of the dilemmas in response to natu- ral disasters, which is that disasters, even major ones, receive significantly diverging media coverage. In the case of China, although over 130 million people were affected and some 4,000 were reported killed or missing,1 very little international assistance was provided