How is poverty connected to earthquakes?

Answer 1

With poverty, comes vulnerability, and nothing exposes the vulnerabilities of people living in poverty more than natural disasters. To reduce construction costs, often unsafe construction methods and material are used to build their house, corruption and exacerbates this situation. Economic impact of earthquake is rather different for the poor. In case of an earthquake such houses easily collapse, pulling the poor further down into the spiral of poverty.

For households who have their dwelling as their main asset and shelter, the robustness of the construction is crucial. Add to that the fact that earthquakes alone don't kill people but collapsed buildings do. But the challenge, especially in low-income markets, is that using conventional construction methods is not only insufficient to ensure earthquake-safety but also further increases the construction costs due to their inefficiencies.

There is a strong correlation between poverty and quality of housing. This is evident when one compares the 2010 earthquakes in Haiiti and Chile. Even though the earthquake in Chile was 500 times stronger than the one that rocked Haiti, the scope of damage in Chile was significantly less. This is linked to the fact that Chile has an educated middle-class workforce and is amongst the industrializing countries in South America.

In addition, countries or nations frequently effected by large scale earthquakes have hindered progress in economic development. For example if 50% of buildings are destroyed in a large earthquake. Around 50% of people will be out of work and homeless resulting in a hindered economy.