Impact of Natural Disasters on Sustainability and Well-being: A Research Analysis

This research paper explores the multifaceted impact of natural disasters on sustainability and well-being, focusing on the United States, particularly Western America. It examines the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction, highlighting its emphasis on resilience, health, and well-being. The paper analyzes the social, economic, and environmental vulnerabilities that contribute to disaster risk, emphasizing the importance of respecting indigenous rights and knowledge in disaster response. It concludes by advocating for a holistic approach to sustainability that addresses social, emotional, and physical needs, emphasizing the need for new metrics to measure and monitor progress in well-being.

Impact of natural disaster on sustainability and well being
S118 Research Methodologies in Global Learning
EMG505
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Introduction
It has been identified by many researcher and instances that one of the most prone regions
that are heavily affected by the disasters is the American states especially Western America.
In the list of top 190 countries with the highest exposure to the national disasters, America
stands at third rank in the terms of landmass and the likeliness to be hit by a natural disaster.
With the increment in the number of disasters, the main impact of such disasters is seen on
the social culture and livelihood. This further impacts the well-being and environmental
sustainability.
The impact of natural disasters on the country is multi-faceted and there are many other
constraints that are affected by thee hazards. The major impact is seen on the safety and
security of the individuals and apart from this, these disasters also impacts the economic
sustainability of a nation.
In order to ensure that resilience of the citizens of the country, it is required that main focus
should be kept on the wellbeing of the citizens which is often neglected. In order to ensure
the same, it is required by the authorities to adopt the practices in order to overcome the
effects of the disaster. These strategies of recovery can help the individuals in ensuring that
their negatively affected well-being is effectively dealt with.
It should be noted that the research on this context has been conducted in this assignment by
taking into consideration various resources. These resources have effectively helped the
researcher in effectively identifying the impact of disasters on the sustainability and
wellbeing. These sources will also give and understanding about the methods of data
collection that have been used in order to collect the data. The qualitative and quantitative
data are the main foundations of the research that have been conducted on the topic and are
the main base of this assignment.
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Aitsi-Selmi, A., Egawa, S., Sasaki, H., Wannous, C., & Murray, V. (2015). The
Sendai framework for disaster risk reduction: Renewing the global commitment
to people’s resilience, health, and well-being. International Journal of Disaster
Risk Science, 6(2), 164-176.
This research has been conducted in order to identify and analyse the new method in which
has been developed by the United Nations Organisation in order to reduce the risk that has
been conducted from the disasters in the US and regions worldwide. This framework as the
name of the journal suggests is Sendai Framework. The framework is a result of the United
Nations post-2015 agenda.
According to the research it has been found that the natural disasters are a big reason behind
the destruction of livelihood and economic well-being around the world. Between the time
periods of 2000-2012, the research estimates that around 700,000 individuals have lost their
lives in the disasters that have been faced. The major impact is also seen in the economic
development and gains of the country and all the economic strata.
These natural disasters can thus be stated as endogenous to the society and the risk of
disasters arises significantly when the interaction is done with the social, economic,
environmental and physical vulnerabilities. It has been identified in the disaster risk reduction
framework that the size of disaster is not defined by the hazard caused by the disaster but the
exposure, vulnerability and the ability of the society and the population of the country to be
able to anticipate, react and overcome the disaster.
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Rogers, D. S., Duraiappah, A. K., Antons, D. C., Munoz, P., Bai, X., Fragkias, M.,
& Gutscher, H. (2012). A vision for human well-being: transition to social
sustainability. Current Opinion in Environmental Sustainability, 4(1), 61-73.
The research that has been presented above is based majorly on the qualitative sources and in
order to complete the research, the researcher has taken the use of secondary sources of the
data collection this research will help the reader to understand the secondary variables of the
research i.e. well-being of the individuals.
According to the research, it has been identified that the world is facing urgent and
interconnected issues on many environmental and social fronts. The shortages that are faced
in the resources are, realities of demographics are further damaged by the natural disasters
that might take place which makes it even more essential to ensure the wellbeing as this
seems to be the most viable option which may help in further development of the social
culture.
The article also concludes that the sustainability should be inclusive of the social, emotional
and physical needs which may further help in getting the knowledge about the impact that the
social disasters have on the economy and culture of a country.
Thus it can be said that the sustainability should be able to address the social individual as
well as the environmental issues. In the sustainable transaction, one of the major roles is
played by the equity.it has also been concluded from the research that there is a need of new
metrics in order to measure and monitor the progress in the well-being of the individuals.
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Howitt, R., Havnen, O., & Veland, S. (2012). Natural and unnatural disasters:
Responding with respect for indigenous rights and knowledge. Geographical
Research, 50(1), 47-59.
The research that has been done on the topic of sustainability and the wellbeing of the
individuals is done on the basis of qualitative and quantitative sources of data collection. It
should be noted that the major challenge for the democratic society is to be able to respond to
the disasters which can be natural or manmade. Though the discussion of both the disasters is
present in the journal, the major focus has been kept on the natural disasters.
From the analysis of the journal it has been identified that in order to foster the sustainable
outcomes from the disasters, it is an urgent need that the human rights, economic and social
constraints should be respected by the government failing which sustainable development is
not possible. This paper is largely drawn on the experiences from Northern Australia and it
has been arguing that the policies of the state play a major role in defining the vulnerability of
the indigenous groups in relation to both the natural and man-made disasters. The data
collection method followed in this research is the analysis of data and statistics present on the
government websites.
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References
 Howitt, R., Havnen, O., & Veland, S. (2012). Natural and unnatural disasters:
Responding with respect for indigenous rights and knowledge. Geographical
Research, 50(1), 47-59.
 Rogers, D. S., Duraiappah, A. K., Antons, D. C., Munoz, P., Bai, X., Fragkias, M., &
Gutscher, H. (2012). A vision for human well-being: transition to social
sustainability. Current Opinion in Environmental Sustainability, 4(1), 61-73.
 Aitsi-Selmi, A., Egawa, S., Sasaki, H., Wannous, C., & Murray, V. (2015). The
Sendai framework for disaster risk reduction: Renewing the global commitment to
people’s resilience, health, and well-being. International Journal of Disaster Risk
Science, 6(2), 164-176.
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