Research Questions

Research Questions

Question 1

Why do people choose to live and work in hazardous areas, despite the risk?

People are living in the areas that are at risk. It is because many of them are unaware about the risks associated with that area. Some people are living because they are living there since many years. Migration from on place to different is difficult and also expensive. In many developing countries, mitigation is hampered by poverty, resulting in a bias of the geographical distribution of the high-impact disasters towards developing countries: More than 80% of the deaths caused by earthquakes happen in 12% of the land surface, mostly in regions with high degree of poverty and corruption (Abbott, 1999). There, too many people live and work in badly constructed buildings concentrated in exponentially expanding cities. Considering that large earthquakes in these regions kill more than 10% of the affected population, we can expect disasters with more than 1 Million fatalities. A large fraction of the deaths caused by earthquakes is due to delayed or inefficient response and rescue: in many cases, 20% of the fatalities happen during the first two hours, while most of the remaining 80% occur in the next one to three days from injuries (William, 2000). Often the family has lived there for generations and maybe has never suffered a major disaster. Family is important in many communities. The elderly need to be cared for and would not move so the younger generations feel bound to stay. The community holds many advantages and work is there (Peter, Jacobson, et al, 2011). The skills gained may not be transferable to other places. Perceptions are important in a social context. Many people feel they are not able to move - regardless of the reality.

Question 2

Why can't communities simply rely upon local churches and community groups for disaster relief?

Communities cannot rely only on local churches and community groups for disaster relief because churches and local communities do not have such financial resources to back millions of people of the hazardous area that are in danger. There are many volunteers that are involved in the disaster relief campaign but they are unskilled and therefore the local churches and community groups cannot be relied solely for the relief. The government has to make the response and preparedness plan for the area that is in danger (William, 2000). It is the role of the government to take initiatives and train people how to evacuate if the disaster occurs. The Communities may have to evacuate its own citizens or hold the evacuees from another Communities groups faced with a disaster. In one case as in the other, necessarily leads to the evacuation support of some basic needs of evacuees, which is often the most challenging aspect of any management of a disaster (Abney, Glenn & Larry, 1996). Indeed, they may have lost family, friends, a house, a job. They need to be educated, nurtured, housed, fed, clothed, etc. The Communities groups must ensure they have ...