Do Disasters Discriminate? A Human Security Analysis of the Impact of the Tsunami in India, Sri Lanka and of the Kashmir Earthquake in Pakistan

Abstract

Although the traditional definitions of human security are confined to mean those threats posed to individuals by war, terrorism, genocide and human rights abuses, the compendium of literature on the subject has expanded to also include those threats posed by factors like hunger, disease and natural disasters. The Human Development Report 1994 identifies seven interrelated dimensions of human security; economic security, food security, health security, environmental security, personal security, community security, and political security (UNDP 1994: 24) Exposure and vulnerability to natural disasters pose a major threat to human security, by virtue of exposing individuals to the threats of physical, economical , social, health, personal, cultural and psychological insecurities. Disasters take lives away, displace people and make them socially and economically insecure. Frequently, post-disaster contexts further threaten human security, as political and institutional structures in disaster-hit countries are unable to deliver relief and recovery in a speedy, efficient, democratic and equitable manner. Further, the impact of a natural disaster is compounded in communities that are already hard-hit by past or continuing natural disasters or human conflicts. South Asia is one of the most disaster prone regions in the world, affected by a variety of natural hazards such as floods, drought, cyclones, windstorms, landslides, and earthquakes. According to the World Disaster Report (IFRC-RCS 2006) 210,610 persons were killed and more than 779 million persons were reported to be affected from natural disasters during the decade of 1996-2005 in the South Asian subcon-tinent. The subcontinent is also home to a very large number of resource poor people whose income levels and assets are barely sufficient for survival. A large majority of poorer populations inhabit the most risk prone locations, such as flood plains, mountain slopes, arid and dry lands, and the coastal belt. Poor governance, institutional and policy frameworks, weak infrastructure, lack of social protection and security all lead to high levels of disaster related insecurity. Livelihoods with a poor asset base are fragile, insurance and other forms of protection are non existent, literacy is low, access to information, health and other services are poor, markets are often exploit-ative, and the local governance structures, both formal and informal are dominated by the landed elite. Socially and economically imbalanced mega developments in the region which can lead to environmental degradation and higher intensity and frequency of hazards further increase levels of risk for impoverished people. Thus, the region effectively brings together the two main parameters of the disaster equation; hazards and vulnerability. Natural hazards frequently turn into disasters with large numbers of human causalities and displacement (Duryog Nivaran 2006). This chapter proposes that the degree and extent of an individual's human security risk vis-à-vis natural disasters is contiguously related to the multiple and intersecting identities he/she subscribes to or is assigned to (i.e. gender, ethnicity, class, caste, religion etc) as well as to the physical, structural and attitu-dinal violence that is inflicted on these multiple and intersecting identities by his/her community. The chapter looks at how different groups of people in India, Sri Lanka and Pakistan have been affected by the December 2004 Asian tsunami and the October 2005 Kashmir earthquake; unfolding vulnera-bilities, the degrees of disaster risk and threat to human security from the immediate, natural hazard impact , and through disaster responses (93.2). Despite