Abstract
While increasing resilience to earthquakes in the global South has become a major research and policy goal, the focus has largely been on rapidly expanding urban areas. Rural areas are often neglected despite the fact that rural residents make up a significant proportion of the population exposed to earthquakes in many low and middle-income countries. Central Asia is a case in point. Drawing on empirical research undertaken in the Central Asian Republic of Kazakhstan, this paper explores local perceptions of and responses to earthquake hazard and risk among rural householders. The primary data are derived from a survey of 302 households conducted across six rural communities in South Kazakhstan oblast (now Turkistan oblast), supplemented by 10 focus group discussions with rural residents. The findings show little awareness of earthquakes or concern about the potential occurrence of a high magnitude earthquake in the future. This reflects, at least in part, a lack of direct experience of all but minor earthquakes. As a result, we see little evidence of the presence of a seismic culture. Only a small number of respondents had received guidance on how to prepare for, or respond to, earthquakes, and few householders had taken any action to reduce the risk faced. We reflect on the findings in the context of Kazakhstan’s Soviet past and its transition to a post-Soviet future. We argue that acknowledging this past is essential to understanding local level decision-making and to informing future disaster risk reduction interventions in rural areas.
Highlights
Most of the world’s population live in urban areas
The focus on the urban has, we argue, resulted in a neglect of the countryside which has serious consequences
With the high ethnic Kazakh population, we were interested in determining whether clan affiliation was a factor in facilitating cooperation and support among villagers but only 20 Kazakh respondents were willing to declare their zhuz.In all 20 cases, the respondents were from the Great zhuzwhich covers territories in south and south-eastern Kazakhstan, and parts of Uzbekistan
Summary
Most of the world’s population live in urban areas. Approximately 90% of this growth occurs in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) whose urban areas are currently expanding at a rate of a 1.3 million people each week (UN DESA 2015). With the high ethnic Kazakh population, we were interested in determining whether clan affiliation was a factor in facilitating cooperation and support among villagers but only 20 Kazakh respondents were willing to declare their zhuz.In all 20 cases, the respondents were from the Great zhuzwhich covers territories in south and south-eastern Kazakhstan, and parts of Uzbekistan This is consistent with information gathered from the respondents participating in FGDs who confirmed that most communities largely belonged to a single clan (Women FGD, Tonkeris 2 July 2016). The high number of respondents who reported not receiving guidance (201 respondents) reflects the Ministry of Emergency Situations concerns, as expressed in their mid-term review to the HFA, that the absence of public education campaigns for enhanced awareness of risk or information on DRR practices at the community level in Kazakhstan (MoES 2013). They are often actuated in times of threat to the community such as fires or floods, and undoubtedly have the potential to facilitate more bottom-up, community level planning (Elders FGD, Kelte Mashat 30 June 2015)
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