Global warming continues to have a negative effect on the environment and, by extension, the economy. Incidence of natural disasters are increasing because of climate change, with flooding being one of the most common and costly types of disaster. Studies on the effect of floods on the economy have revealed that flooding increases the amount of income inequality. However, there is not a unified, qualitative analysis of the reasons for the post-flood increase in inequality. This thesis examines multiple different flood events in several developing countries to answer how flooding affects inequality in developing countries. It produces a synthesized analysis on the underlying causes of flood induced income inequality. These causes were found to be the increased vulnerability of low-income households to flooding and their lower capacity to cope with flood damages, relative to middle- or high-income households. Vulnerability has spatial and structural dimensions, and capacity to cope is influenced by a household’s asset portfolio and post-flood adaptation ability; it is also interconnected with coping capacity and contributes to a cycle of poverty escalation.

This study examined mental health outcomes for widowed Tamil women in Sri Lanka to identify any associations between type of spousal loss and several outcomes, including internalized stigma as a result of widowhood, anxiety symptoms, depressive symptoms, and posttraumatic stress symptoms. A sample of 381 Tamil female widows living in Eastern Sri Lanka were surveyed in 2016 to understand their experiences in a post-disaster and post-war context. Type of spousal loss was separated into seven categories: war-related death, death as a result of tsunami, illness-related deaths, accidental death, suicide, disappearance, and other. Path analysis was used to assess whether type of spousal loss predicts variations in symptom outcomes, controlling for time they have been bereaved, number of children, social problems, and perceived sense of community. The Conservation of Resources (COR) theory (Hobfoll, 1989) was used to conceptualize how spousal loss is connected to distress symptoms and to explain the findings. Analysis revealed that the only types of spousal loss which associated with significant variation in symptom distress were spousal loss as a result of accident and "other" causes. Specifically, accidental causes of spousal death were associated with lower levels of depression, and "other" causes of death were associated with lower levels of depression and anxiety as compared to all other causes of death. In addition, the control variables of sense of community and social problems predicted significant variation in symptom distress such that higher levels of sense of community were associated with lower levels of depression, anxiety, and posttraumatic stress symptoms, and social problems were associated with higher levels of all measured types of mental health distress symptoms.

During development process, especially under the impact of climate change, natural disaster is one of the major challenges. In fact, the degree of devastation of natural disasters such as storms, floods and landslides are enormous, causing severe damage to people, property and environmental degradation. These natural disasters increasingly occurring more frequently in the last 20 years claimed the lives of many people. Unlike natural disasters, catastrophes are often related to human factors. Thus, the policy on response, treatment should also take into account the legal process in order to ensure that the principle of the polluter must bear responsibility after incidents and catastrophes. The catastrophe is a serious disruption of a community activity, causing loss of life, environment and material on a large scale. Normally catastrophe is beyond the capacity of affected communities to cope with, if only sources power of that community is used. The impact of economic - social development, climate change and natural disasters, environmental pollution situation, the capacity to respond to environmental incidents ... has been the pressure and challenge to Vietnam. / Trong quá trình phát triển, đặc biệt dưới tác động của biến đổi khí hậu, thiên tai là một trong những thách thức lớn. Trong thực tế, mức độ tàn phá của thiên tai như bão, lũ và sạt lở đất là rất lớn, gây thiệt hại nặng nề về người, tài sản và gây suy thoái môi trường. Những thảm họa do thiên tai gây ra đang ngày càng xảy ra thường xuyên hơn trong 20 năm qua, cướp đi sinh mạng của nhiều người. Khác với thiên tai, thảm họa môi trường thường liên quan đến yếu tố con người. Do đó, chính sách ứng phó, xử lý cũng cần tính đến các quá trình pháp lý nhằm đảm bảo nguyên tắc người gây ô nhiễm phải chịu trách nhiệm sau sự cố, thảm họa. Thảm họa là sự phá vỡ nghiêm trọng hoạt động của một cộng đồng, gây ra những tổn thất về người, môi trường, vật chất trên diện rộng. Thảm họa thường vượt quá khả năng đối phó của cộng đồng bị ảnh hưởng nếu chỉ sử dụng các nguồn lực của cộng đồng đó. Tác động của sự phát triển kinh tế - xã hội, biến đổi khí hậu và thiên tai, thực trạng ô nhiễm môi trường, năng lực ứng phó với sự cố môi trường… đã và đang là những áp lực và thách thức không nhỏ với Việt Nam.

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Although scientific and technological progress continues to improve advanced warning technologies for meteorological and seismic events, natural disasters remain a threat globally. Asia is the continent most affected by natural disasters. Located in both the Circum-Pacific seismic belt and the western Pacific typhoon zone, Taiwan faces similar threats to its Asian neighbors. In 2009, the island nation experienced Typhoon Morakot and saw its massive rain-triggered landslides, burying more than 700 people in several rural villages and causing US$1.5 billion in economic losses. Furthermore, Typhoon Morakot was a political storm and a symbolic crisis because of the government's sluggish and inept response and the identity of the primary victims—Taiwanese Aborigines—who were forced to negotiate their racial identity and cultural heritage post-disaster. This dissertation examines the cultural and political role of disaster journalism. Employing a methodological triangulation of in-depth interviews with 23 veteran journalists who covered Typhoon Morakot and textual analysis of broadcast, newspaper, and online news coverage of Typhoon Morakot, this project investigates the process of disaster news-making, the visual construction of public emotions in broadcast news, the narrative attribution of political responsibility in newspapers, and the social justice potential of alternative media. News coverage of Typhoon Morakot thus provides both an outlet to witness the production and presentation of disaster news developed in a highly mature and competitive media environment and a glimpse into the international challenges and domestic predicaments faced by the newly democratized Taiwan. / Media & Communication

Winter Storm Uri damaged parts of the United States, Mexico, and Canada in February of 2021. The State of Texas was heavily affected due to the institutional failure of Texas's primary power provider, the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT). Despite similar previous storms that exposed weaknesses in the state's power grid system in 1999 and 2011, ERCOT did not make the necessary changes to prevent a future disaster. The purpose of this study is to advance the understanding of the concept of recreancy through the exploration of eight different dimensions of the concept: trust or distrust in institutions; institutional responsibility for disaster preparedness; responsibility for impacts of a disaster; effectiveness or ineffectiveness of institutions in responding to a disaster; an institution's capability of preventing a similar event in the future; an institution's willingness to make changes in their actions or behavior; confidence that an institution will prevent a similar event in the future; and responsibility for compensation for impacts of a disaster. To examine the composition of the concept of recreancy, I analyzed survey data collected in Texas during April and May of 2022. I aggregated and coded survey data according to the level respondents reported to agree with the survey indicators measuring dimensions of recreancy. I utilized Confirmatory Factor Analysis to analyze if the derived dimensions of recreancy measure recreancy, and if some are more salient than others. Confirmatory Factor Analysis revealed variability in the importance of different dimensions of recreancy, suggesting that some dimensions are more salient than others in shaping residents' perceptions of recreancy in the context of Winter Storm Uri. Further analysis revealed a preliminary model to operationalize recreancy, however further analysis is needed. / Master of Science / In February 2021, Winter Storm Uri devasted regions of the United States, Mexico, and Canada. The state of Texas experienced significant storm impacts due to the failure of its primary power provider, the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT). ERCOT is responsible for overseeing and managing the state's power grid. Similar storms in 1999 and 2011 revealed weaknesses in the power grid's infrastructure—state officials mandated but did not require weatherization precautions to prevent future grid failures. ERCOT did not implement the suggested changes and the power grid failure during Winter Storm Uri left millions of Texas residents without access to power, heat, water, and other necessary services. This thesis explores residents' perceptions of ERCOT's institutional failure—recreancy—and aims to understand the concept of recreancy through the examination of eight dimensions: trust or distrust in institutions; institutional responsibility for disaster preparedness; responsibility for impacts of a disaster; effectiveness or ineffectiveness of institutions in responding to a disaster; an institution's capability of preventing a similar event in the future; an institution's willingness to make changes in their actions or behavior; confidence that an institution will prevent a similar event in the future; and responsibility for compensation for impacts of a disaster. I analyzed survey respondents' levels of agreement with each dimension and utilized Confirmatory Factor Analysis to assess the relative importance of the dimensions and if they accurately capture recreancy.

Climate change is exacerbating natural disasters, and extreme weather events increase with intensity and frequency. This requires an in-depth evaluation of locations across the various U.S. climates where natural hazards, vulnerabilities, and potentially damaging impacts will vary. At the local building level within the built environment, private residences are crucial shelter systems to protect against natural disasters, and are a central component in the greater effort of creating comprehensive disaster resilient environments. In light of recent disasters such as Superstorm Sandy, there is an increased awareness that residential buildings and communities need to become more resilient for the changing climates they are located in, or will face devastating consequences. There is a great potential for specific high-performance building technologies to play a vital role in achieving disaster resilience on a local scale. The application of these technologies can not only provide immediate protection and reduced risk for buildings and its occupants, but can additionally alleviate disaster recovery stressors to critical infrastructure and livelihoods by absorbing, adapting, and rapidly recovering from extreme weather events, all while simultaneously promoting sustainable building development. However, few have evaluated the link between residential high-performance building technologies and natural disaster resilience in regards to identifying and prioritizing viable technologies to assist decision-makers with effective implementation. This research developed a framework for a process that prioritizes residential building technologies that encompass both high-performance and resilience qualities that can be implemented for a variety of housing contexts to mitigate risks associated with climate induced natural hazards. Decision-makers can utilize this process to evaluate a residential building for natural disaster risks, and communicate strategies to improve building performance and resilience in response to such risks. / Ph. D.