the impacts of natural disasters on children carolyn kousky resources for the future
DESCRIPTION
3 Outline Climate change and natural disasters Disaster Impacts on Children Pathways Comment on methods Health Impacts Exposure in utero Exposure in childhood Long-term consequences Mental Health Impacts Schooling Impacts Developed / Developing country studies Mitigation/AdaptationTRANSCRIPT
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March 13, 2015
The Impacts of Natural Disasterson Children
Carolyn KouskyResources for the Future
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Chapter questions
• Do disasters have a disproportional impact on children?
• If so, what are those impacts?
• How long do the effects last?
• What can be done to mitigate the negative impacts?
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Outline
• Climate change and natural disasters• Disaster Impacts on Children
• Pathways• Comment on methods
• Health Impacts• Exposure in utero• Exposure in childhood• Long-term consequences
• Mental Health Impacts• Schooling Impacts
• Developed / Developing country studies
• Mitigation/Adaptation
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Climate Change and Natural Disasters
Source: US Climate Change Science Program; IPCC SREX
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Disaster impacts on children
• Destruction of schools and health facilities• Destruction of HH assets or loss of income; required
increase in expenditures• Stress and trauma• Risk of abuse and neglect
• Living with risk ex-ante
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Some notes on methods
• Underlying mechanisms not identified• Small samples, case studies, many short-run• OVB• Many studies do not have pre-disaster data• Could be sorting on ex-ante risk • Attrition from sample
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Health impacts
• In Utero Exposure – some findings from hurricanes & heat waves
• Increase in risk for: low birth weight, delivery complications, abnormal conditions, reduced gestational age / preterm birth, worse apgar scores
• Impacts worse for more severe disaster experiences• Some times more sensitive, but variation in findings
• Childhood Exposure • Children can be at increased susceptibility for mortality• Children at higher risk for some diseases
• Respiratory, gastro-intestinal• Most focused on malnourishment in developing countries. Disaster
occurrence linked to:• Higher probability of being undernourished• Lower height-for-age Z scores• Higher risk of stunting and being underweight• Birth to 2 is a highly sensitive period
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Health impacts
• Health facilities destroyed• Illness and injury from event untreated• Unrelated health problems not treated
• Lack of sanitation; lack of clean drinking water• Spread of infectious diseases• Dehydration
• Consumption shock; loss of crops• Reduced food consumption – malnourishment, deficiencies
• Traumatic event• Physical impacts of stress
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Mental health impacts
• Prevalence• Higher rates of PTSD and other stress and anxiety
related mental health problems after a disaster• Determinants
• Aspects of exposure (e.g., magnitude of losses, perceived life threat)
• Child characteristics (e.g., age, gender, prior experiences)
• Social support (role of parents, for example)• Child coping responses (anger, positive coping
strategies…)
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Schooling
• Destruction of schools• Poor health from disaster could impact schooling• Migration• Family shifts children from school to labor force to make up lost
income
• Developed country studies• Katrina studies – drop and then increase from improvement in school
quality• Hurricanes may have small impacts on test scores; likely returns to
pre-storm levels• Developing country studies
• Disasters tend to show a decrease in school attendance and increase in labor participation but varies by location and aspects of child
• Is there state dependence?
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Mitigating negative impacts
• Climate change could make impacts worse; increase areas threatened by disasters
• Many areas face “adaptation deficit”• Strategies:
• Ex-ante• Hazard mitigation, particularly better building• Response plans• Non-disaster policies and safety nets
• Improved health care infrastructure• Access to credit• School enrollment subsidies and social insurance
• Best practices for response• Health interventions• Reunification• Special housing and shelter needs