Natural disasters and the challenge of extreme events: risk management from an insurance perspective

2006 ◽  
Vol 364 (1845) ◽  
pp. 2147-2165 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anselm Smolka
Keyword(s):  
Natural Disasters ◽  
Extreme Events ◽  
Urban Areas ◽  
Volcanic Eruptions ◽  
The State ◽  
Prevention Measures ◽  
Insurance Sector ◽  
Catastrophe Bonds ◽  
Disaster Insurance ◽  
Insurance Perspective

Loss statistics for natural disasters demonstrate, also after correction for inflation, a dramatic increase of the loss burden since 1950. This increase is driven by a concentration of population and values in urban areas, the development of highly exposed coastal and valley regions, the complexity of modern societies and technologies and probably, also by the beginning consequences of global warming. This process will continue unless remedial action will be taken. Managing the risk from natural disasters starts with identification of the hazards. The next step is the evaluation of the risk, where risk is a function of hazard, exposed values or human lives and the vulnerability of the exposed objects. Probabilistic computer models have been developed for the proper assessment of risks since the late 1980s. The final steps are controlling and financing future losses. Natural disaster insurance plays a key role in this context, but also private parties and governments have to share a part of the risk. A main responsibility of governments is to formulate regulations for building construction and land use. The insurance sector and the state have to act together in order to create incentives for building and business owners to take loss prevention measures. A further challenge for the insurance sector is to transfer a portion of the risk to the capital markets, and to serve better the needs of the poor. Catastrophe bonds and microinsurance are the answer to such challenges. The mechanisms described above have been developed to cope with well-known disasters like earthquakes, windstorms and floods. They can be applied, in principle, also to less well investigated and less frequent extreme disasters: submarine slides, great volcanic eruptions, meteorite impacts and tsunamis which may arise from all these hazards. But there is an urgent need to improve the state of knowledge on these more exotic hazards in order to reduce the high uncertainty in actual risk evaluation to an acceptable level. Due to the rarity of such extreme events, specific risk prevention measures are hardly justified with exception of attempts to divert earth-orbit crossing meteorites from their dangerous path. For the industry it is particularly important to achieve full transparency as regards covered and non-covered risks and to define in a systematic manner the limits of insurability for super-disasters.

Securitization of Insured Risks and Insurance from Extreme Losses

2011 ◽  
pp. 51-60
Author(s):  
E. Grebenshchikov
Keyword(s):  
Risk Management ◽  
Stock Market ◽  
Natural Disasters ◽  
Insurance Industry ◽  
The State ◽  
Catastrophe Bonds ◽  
System Protection ◽  
Full Participation

Natural disasters are extremely destructive power and duration on the planet occur rather rarely, but in this case should build in advance of system protection and response, which includes immediate measures to assist victims by the State, a set of measures on risk management and the full participation of the insurance industry. For this purpose, since the mid-1990s insurance corporations resort to such a form of alternative financing upcoming and possible costs as a transfer of risks to the stock market through the issuance of catastrophe bonds. The article contains an analysis of these bonds.

The Political Economy of Rural-Urban Conflict

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Topher L. McDougal
Keyword(s):  
Political Economy ◽  
Urban Areas ◽  
The State ◽  
Hierarchical Networks ◽  
Capital Cities ◽  
Trade Networks ◽  
Rural And Urban Areas ◽  
Rural And Urban ◽  
Economic Relationship ◽  
Relationship Of

In some cases of insurgency, the combat frontier is contested and erratic, as rebels target cities as their economic prey. In other cases, it is tidy and stable, seemingly representing an equilibrium in which cities are effectively protected from violent non-state actors. What factors account for these differences in the interface urban-based states and rural-based challengers? To explore this question, this book examines two regions representing two dramatically different outcomes. In West Africa (Liberia and Sierra Leone), capital cities became economic targets for rebels, who posed dire threats to the survival of the state. In Maoist India, despite an insurgent ideology aiming to overthrow the state via a strategy of progressive city capture, the combat frontier effectively firewalls cities from Maoist violence. This book argues that trade networks underpinning the economic relationship between rural and urban areas—termed “interstitial economies”—may differ dramatically in their impact on (and response to) the combat frontier. It explains rebel predatory tendencies toward cities as a function of transport networks allowing monopoly profits to be made by urban-based traders. It explains combat frontier delineation as a function of the social structure of the trade networks: hierarchical networks permit elite–elite bargains that cohere the frontier. These factors represent what might be termed respectively the “hardware” and “software” of the rural–urban economic relationship. Of interest to any student of political economy and violence, this book presents new arguments and insights about the relationships between violence and the economy, predation and production, core and periphery.

Law on Natural Disasters

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ki-Gab Park
Keyword(s):  
Natural Disasters ◽  
International Cooperation ◽  
Natural Disaster ◽  
International Community ◽  
The State ◽  
Efficient Tool ◽  
International Solidarity ◽  
Cooperation Mechanism ◽  
Prior Consent ◽  
Humanitarian Crises

The chapter argues that natural disasters are common concerns in the international community. At the same time, the current international cooperation mechanism, based on the principle of equal sovereignty, require prior consent by the state affected by a natural disaster. Unfortunately, this is not always an efficient tool for the protection of victims. The globalization of problems and the proliferation of humanitarian crises make the veritable solidarity of the international community increasingly necessary, and therefore another high value, namely international solidarity or community obligations, should create direct and immediate obligations for all members of the international community. The main object of this chapter is to discuss the future-oriented direction of the law on natural disasters. This means, first, to ascertain the lex lata, especially customary rules. The chapter further offers some suggestions on possible ways for the international community to provide more effective relief for victims of natural disasters.

Spatiotemporal clustering, social inequities and the risk of leptospirosis in an endemic area of Brazil: a retrospective spatial modelling

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Katyucia O C de Souza ◽  
José Augusto P Góes ◽  
Matheus S Melo ◽  
Paula M G Leite ◽  
Lucas A Andrade ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Urban Areas ◽  
Spatial Regression ◽  
Temporal Trends ◽  
Spatial Dynamics ◽  
Secondary Data ◽  
The State ◽  
Scan Statistics ◽  
Northeastern Brazil ◽  
Metropolitan Region ◽  
Social Inequities

Abstract Background Leptospirosis is an endemic disease in Brazil of social and economic relevance related to behavioural and socioenvironmental factors. This study aimed to analyse the spatiotemporal distribution of the incidence of leptospirosis and its association with social determinants in health in a state of northeastern Brazil. Methods An ecological study of temporal series with techniques of spatial analysis using secondary data of the cases of leptospirosis notified in the Information System of Notifiable Diseases of the state of Sergipe (2008–2017) was conducted. The analysis of temporal trends was performed using Poisson regression. Spatial analyses were performed using the Moran index, the local empirical Bayesian model, scan statistics and spatial regression. Results The incidence rate decreased from 3.66 to 1.44 cases per 100 000 inhabitants in 2008 and 2017, respectively. Leptospirosis was associated with social inequities, mostly affecting males aged 20–49 y living in urban areas. The space-time scan indicated the formation of a risk cluster in municipalities in the metropolitan region of the state. Conclusions The data indicated the persistence of leptospirosis transmission, maintaining a pattern of high endemicity in some municipalities associated with social inequities. The study showed the temporal and spatial dynamics of the disease to better target specific actions for prevention and control.

scholarly journals Zonation of Landslide Susceptibility in Ruijin, Jiangxi, China

2021 ◽  
Vol 18 (11) ◽  
pp. 5906
Author(s):  
Xiaoting Zhou ◽  
Weicheng Wu ◽  
Ziyu Lin ◽  
Guiliang Zhang ◽  
Renxiang Chen ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Factors ◽  
Landslide Susceptibility ◽  
Urban Areas ◽  
Support Vector ◽  
Susceptibility Map ◽  
Human Society ◽  
Learning Approaches ◽  
Prevention Measures ◽  
Landslide Occurrence ◽  
Better Than

Landslides are one of the major geohazards threatening human society. The objective of this study was to conduct a landslide hazard susceptibility assessment for Ruijin, Jiangxi, China, and to provide technical support to the local government for implementing disaster reduction and prevention measures. Machine learning approaches, e.g., random forests (RFs) and support vector machines (SVMs) were employed and multiple geo-environmental factors such as land cover, NDVI, landform, rainfall, lithology, and proximity to faults, roads, and rivers, etc., were utilized to achieve our purposes. For categorical factors, three processing approaches were proposed: simple numerical labeling (SNL), weight assignment (WA)-based and frequency ratio (FR)-based. Then 19 geo-environmental factors were respectively converted into raster to constitute three 19-band datasets, i.e., DS1, DS2, and DS3 from three different processes. Then, 155 observed landslides that occurred in the past decades were vectorized, among which 70% were randomly selected to compose a training set (TS1) and the remaining 30% to form a validation set (VS1). A number of non-landslide (no-risk) samples distributed in the whole study area were identified in low slope (<1–3°) zones such as urban areas and croplands, and also added to the TS1 and VS1 in the same ratio. For comparison, we used the FR approach to identify the no-risk samples in both flat and non-flat areas, and merged them into the field-observed landslides to constitute another pair of training and validation sets (TS2 and VS2) using the same ratio of 7:3. The RF algorithm was applied to model the probability of the landslide occurrence using DS1, DS2, and DS3 as predictive variables and TS1 and TS2 for training to obtain the SNL-based, WA-based, and FR-based RF models, respectively. Verified against VS1 and VS2, the three models have similar overall accuracy (OA) and Kappa coefficient (KC), which are 89.61%, 91.47%, and 94.54%, and 0.7926, 0.8299, and 0.8908, respectively. All of them are much better than the three models obtained by SVM algorithm with OA of 81.79%, 82.86%, and 83%, and KC of 0.6337, 0.655, and 0.660. New case verification with the recent 26 landslide events of 2017–2020 revealed that the landslide susceptibility map from WA-based RF modeling was able to properly identify the high and very high susceptibility zones where 23 new landslides had occurred, and performed better than the SNL-based and FR-based RF modeling, though the latter has a slightly higher OA and KC. Hence, we concluded that all three RF models achieve reasonable risk prediction, but WA-based and FR-based RF modeling deserves a recommendation for application elsewhere. The results of this study may serve as reference for the local authorities in prevention and early warning of landslide hazards.

The State Connection in China's Rural-Urban Migration

2005 ◽  
Vol 39 (2) ◽  
pp. 354-380 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lei Guang
Keyword(s):  
Migrant Workers ◽  
Urban Areas ◽  
Special Kind ◽  
The State ◽  
Urban Migration ◽  
Migration Process ◽  
State Textile ◽  
Facilitative Role ◽  
Rural Urban Migration ◽  
Urban State

This study explores the role of China's rural local state-owned and urban state-owned units in its rural-urban migration process. Most studies on Chinese migration have focused on migrants moving from rural to urban areas through informal mechanisms outside of the state's control. They therefore treat the Chinese state as an obstructionist force and dismiss its facilitative role in the migration process. By documenting rural local states' “labor export” strategies and urban state units' employment of millions of peasants, this article provides a corrective to the existing literature. It highlights and explains the state connection in China's rural-urban migration. Labor is … a special kind of commodity. What we do is to fetch a good price for this special commodity. Labor bureau official from Laomei county, 1996 If we want efficiency, we have to hire migrant workers. Party secretary of a state textile factory in Shanghai, 1997

Local Communities as a Tool for the Development of Municipal Democracy: German Experience and Lessons for Russia

2020 ◽  
Vol 29 (5) ◽  
pp. 74-88
Author(s):  
Aleksandr Larichev ◽  
Emil Markwart
Keyword(s):  
Local Government ◽  
Urban Areas ◽  
Local Population ◽  
Local Communities ◽  
The State ◽  
Household Waste ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
Issue Management ◽  
State Management ◽  
Municipal Level

Local government as a political, legal and social institution finds itself in a very difficult period of development in Russia. The long-established tendency of its subordination to the state has intensified today in connection with the newly adopted constitutional amendments. At the same time, it seems obvious that further “embedding” of local government into the state management vertical, in the absence of any positive effect in terms of solving socio-economic and infrastructural problems, will inevitably lead to other hard to reverse, negative results both for local government institutions and the system of public authority as a whole. The normal functioning of local government requires, however, not only the presence of its sufficient institutional and functional autonomy from the state, but also an adequate territorial and social base for its implementation. To ensure the formation of viable territorial collectives, especially in urban areas, it seems appropriate to promote the development of self-government based on local groups at the intra-municipal level. Such local groups can independently manage issues of local importance on a small scale (landscaping, social volunteering, and neighborly mutual assistance), and provide, within the boundaries of a local territory, due civil control over the maintenance by municipal authorities of more complex and large-scale local issues (repair and development of infrastructure, removal of solid household waste and more). At the same time, the development of local communities can by no means be a self-sufficient and substitutional mechanism, whose introduction would end the need for democracy in the full scope of municipal structures overall. In this regard, the experience of local communities’ development in Germany, a state with legal traditions similar to Russian ones, with a centuries-old history of the development of territorial communities and a difficult path to building democracy and forming civil society, seems to be very interesting. Here, the progressive development of local forms of democracy and the participation of residents in local issue management are combined with stable mechanisms of municipal government, and the interaction of municipalities with the state does not torpedo the existing citizen forms of self-government. At the same time, the experience of Germany shows that the decentralization of public issue management which involves the local population can only be effective in a situation where, in addition to maintaining a full-fledged self-government mechanism at the general municipal level, relevant local communities are endowed with real competence and resources to influence local issue decision-making. The role of formalized local communities in urban areas, as the German experience shows, can not only facilitate the decentralization of solving public problems, but can also help in timely elimination of triggers for mobilizing citywide supercollectives with negative agendas. This experience seems useful and applicable in the Russian context.

Land Records Modernisation: Maharashtra

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Deepika Jha ◽  
Varun Panickar ◽  
Dipankar Das
Keyword(s):  
Urban Areas ◽  
Uttar Pradesh ◽  
Urban Land ◽  
Indian Institute ◽  
The State ◽  
Human Settlements ◽  
Legislative Framework ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Land Records

During 2017–2020, a team of researchers at the Indian Institute for Human Settlements conducted a series of primary and secondary studies on land record modernisation initiatives in five states and union territories of India. Based on extensive on-ground research, this work is part of a five-volume set that presents findings from Delhi, Maharashtra, Chandigarh, Karnataka and Uttar Pradesh, with a focus on urban land and property records and the associated complexities. This volume on Maharashtra brings out the impact of having a historically enshrined system of maintaining property records even in urban areas, created via city surveys. The state also has a supporting legislative framework, which has enabled capturing some details of vertical property, although in a fragmented and decentralised manner.

Modern aspects of epidemiology and prevention of typhoid infection (review)

2021 ◽  
pp. 16-26
Author(s):  
Alla Nikolaevna Kaira ◽  
Vyacheslav Fedorovich Lavrov ◽  
Oksana Anatolievna Svitich
Keyword(s):  
Typhoid Fever ◽  
Natural Disasters ◽  
Risk Groups ◽  
Poverty Line ◽  
Epidemiological Surveillance ◽  
Prevention Measures ◽  
Labor Migrants ◽  
Antibiotic Resistant ◽  
The World ◽  
Resistant Strains

Typhoid fever is still an urgent infection, especially in countries where the majority of the population lives below the poverty line, with limited resources, and without the ability to comply with basic hygiene rules. About 11 million cases of typhoid fever are registered worldwide every year, and about 400 people die from this infection every day. The global development of international relations activates migration processes, tourism, and provides rapid movement of significant masses of people around the world, which makes the risk of widespread typhoid infection quite real. In recent years, due to the emergence of antibiotic-resistant strains of S. typhi, treatment of typhoid fever has become less effective. Natural disasters in the form of earthquakes and floods, man-made disasters, as well as military conflicts that occur in different parts of the world, are fertile «soil» for the emergence and spread of typhoid infection, which actualizes the implementation of appropriate prevention measures, including immunoprophylaxis of the disease. Despite the obvious success in the fight against typhoid fever, which consists in a significant reduction in cases of typhoid infection in the world, this dangerous infectious disease still remains an urgent problem, both for health authorities and the population of many countries. Children and young people are still ill, and there is a real risk of infection spreading to any country. Natural disasters pose a real threat of typhoid outbreaks and epidemics. Mass appearance of antibiotic-resistant strains of S. typhi significantly complicates the treatment of patients, dictates the need for constant monitoring of the pathogen’s resistance to antibiotics and the introduction of typhoid immunoprophylaxis for epidemic indications among professional risk groups, labor migrants, and tourists traveling to countries with typhoid-affected countries. There is also a need for reliable epidemiological surveillance of this infection, carried out on an ongoing basis.

scholarly journals HAK MENGUASAI NEGARA, PERSPEKTIF INDONESIA SEBAGAI NEGARA HUKUM

2008 ◽  
Vol 38 (1) ◽  
pp. 58
Author(s):  
Imam Koeswahyono
Keyword(s):  
Natural Disasters ◽  
Legal Pluralism ◽  
State Intervention ◽  
The State ◽  
The Right ◽  
Significant Effort

Abstrak The right of management of the state since early Dutch colony until thisrecent transition era has became terminology that been debated. Thatcontroversy persists by the strength of the state intervention through the vitalnatural resources for agrarian nations beside biased articulation indiscourse but also on state right in praxis terms. Those situations haveprolonged even had begun any transformation in politic's paradigm of priorNew Order (Orde baru) to the recent transition era and had not impacted tothe reconceptualization through that state right and praxis. Under the authortought it needs significant effort which is based under legal pluralism,decentralization by the participative of legislative drafting method alsosustainability and public anccountability principles. Without considering tothose factors the author remark it would arise mis-perceptive through theright managament of the state, latent/massive conflict over regions thatcontra productive to development progr.ess and such natural disasters

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