Through a genealogy of Jamaican disaster management, shows how participatory and mitigation techniques were deterritorialized from marginalized experiences of disaster and reterritorialized into mitigation policies through the confluence of local disaster events and the global emergence of sustainable development and resilience theory.
A benefit-cost analysis was performed on varying levels of standard buildings codes for Haiti and Puerto Rico. It was found that in the two areas studied, the expected loss of life was reduced the most by use of high seismic building code levels, but lower levels of seismic building code were more cost-effective when considering only building damages and the costs for code implementation.
Clemens,Michael (Author) and Velayudhan,Tejaswi (Author)
Format:
Pamphlet
Publication Date:
Oct 2011
Published:
Center for Global Development
Location:
African American Research Center, Library, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Notes:
4 p., The United States should take modest steps to create a legal channel for limited numbers of people fleeing natural disasters overseas to enter the United States. This would address two related problems: the lack of any systematic US policy to help the growing numbers of people displaced across borders by natural disasters and the inability of US humanitarian relief efforts to reduce systemic poverty or sustainably improve victims' livelihoods. The aftermath of the 2010 Haiti earthquake presents a compelling case study of the administrative and legislative ways the US government could address both problems. Migration is already a proven and powerful force for reducing Haitians' poverty. A few modest changes in the US approach could greatly aid Haiti's recovery.
In many of the lesser developed areas of the world, regional development planning is increasingly important for meeting the needs of current and future inhabitants. Illustrates how matrix assessment methodology was applied to produce a landslide-susceptibility map for the Commonwealth of Dominica, an island nation in the eastern Caribbean, and how with a follow up study the relative landslide-susceptibility mapping was validated. A second Caribbean application on Jamaica demonstrates how this methodology can be applied in a more geologically complex setting.
The recurrence of violence in Haiti since February 1986 has generated strong demands for reforms to the security and justice system, in the broader context and process of democratic construction. Important transformations have been implemented, but certain factors have hampered change. Challenges include an institutional culture that resists certain changes, weak links between the police and justice, inadequate support from international actors, and a deeply constraining economic context.
International Bank for Reconstruction and Development
Location:
African American Research Center, Library, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Notes:
2 pp., Costa Rica is one of the most earthquake-prone countries in the World due to the tectonic interaction of the Cocos and Caribbean plates. Earthquakes, and other natural hazards, place major stress on the country's population, infrastructure and economy, and often result in the disruption of basic services. In response to this, the Government of Costa Rica is continuously working to build the capacity of technicians to design effective disaster risk management policies and investments to reduce seismic risk.
This article discusses different views about sustainable development, emphasizing -- on the basis of a survey conducted in Brazil, Mexico, and Cuba -- the role of rural women in food production and natural resource management, the strength of the rural women's movement in the conquest of rights, and the decisive participation of women in defining proposals for public policies that guarantee gender equality in rural areas. A brief comparative analysis leads us to conclude that the development model in the three countries still prioritizes the male figure in relation to land tenure, access to credit and purchase of equipment or other material resources, it is suggested that both in Cuba, a socialist country, and in Mexico and Brazil, capitalist counties, the assumptions of social policies directed to rural female workers should take into account the basic needs of rural women to guarantee a more humane and sustainable development. Adapted from the source document.
At different times in its history, the Caribbean has been a strategic region -- initially with the arrival of the first Europeans in the late 15th century, then, among other things, by its proximity to the Panama Canal & later as a result of the Cuban revolution. But for some years now it has played a less important role internationally. However, as Viktor Sukup points out, "Russia's recent rapprochement with Cuba & Venezuela & the increasing engagement of China in the region" suggest that the Caribbean still has strategic importance.
