When the poor lose even more: A framework of normalized measures for disaster impacts and household economic vulnerability

Abstract

Disasters often have a decisive role in undermining household well-being. But specific outcomes diverge widely across different households and communities, due to dissimilar characteristics within the affected population, as well as disparities in disaster typology, severity, and scale. The concept of vulnerability is enlisted to account for the varying degree to which different households may be impacted by the same event. But significant limitations are evident in vulnerability measures available up to now, because an analytical connection between vulnerability and disaster outcomes is lacking, and a maximum level of vulnerability consistent with household well-being generally is not specified. This research introduces a framework, termed the HEVI ratios (Household Economic Vulnerability and Impact) to address this gap. It is based on a simple proportional measure of household disaster losses, which is decomposed into further parameters that describe household vulnerability and disaster severity, placing these separate aspects together within the same dynamic. Review of literature on household capabilities and vulnerability argues for seeing the latter as a deprivation of the former, for adopting an economic perspective in assessing vulnerability, and for interpreting household capabilities as forms of wealth. Disaster literature documenting greater household impacts on poorer families is also reviewed. Taking this hypothesis, the framework is applied to data from the 2015 Gorkha earthquake in Nepal to illustrate the use of the HEVI ratios in demonstrating this pattern in quantitative terms. The prospects for further developing and applying the framework are discussed, following from observations of this application.