Who’s pays the price
of coastal crises?
Manuela de los Rios investigates
Prices going up
Ever visited the United Nations Relief
website? Every single day wars, weather-
related disasters, waterborne diseases,
pollution and other crises, mostly in
coastal areas, make the headlines. And
climate change continues to exacerbate
the problem with ever more frequent
storms and sea level rise.
Life goes on but change happens and
will continue to do so, especially on our
coasts. One out of four people live
within 100 km of the coast. Because we
work and live on the coast we are
subject to the risks that exist in these
much appreciated, but naturally
dynamic and exposed areas.
Imagine...
WAR in Lebanon: Amir, hotel
owner, 54, loses his clients
HURRICANE in New Oreleans:
Julie, 27, loses her mother
EROSION in UK: Phillip, 72,
loses his home
FLOODS in Kenya: Chuku, 14,
student, loses access to drinking
water
OIL SPILL in Spain: Gonzalo, 52,
fisherman, loses his job
TSUNAMI in Sri Lanka: Sajitha, 12,
loses her school
Could it be me paying?
We are all vulnerable to coastal hazards;
factors related to institutional capacity,
technology and infrastructures are one
side of the coin. On the other side,
social and economic characteristics
such as health, education, networks,
age and gender can determine those
who are most susceptible and less able
to cope and recover from an event.
6 The edge Winter 2007
How to minimise the costs
To minimise the costs of coastal crises,
we need to (re)construct healthy coastal
ecosystems so that there is built-in
resilience to both human and naturally-
induced change. The Resilience Alliance
suggests three abilities are required to do
this:
Learning
Local knowledge and experience as well
as access to information is essential to
deal with coastal crises. In 1992,
Hurricane Andrew in Florida caused 23
people to lose their lives with economic
losses estimated at $26.5 billion. An
equivalent tropical typhoon in
Bangladesh caused 100,000 deaths and
the displacement of millions. Florida’s
institutional capacity, early warning
systems, community experience and
strong networks had been improved by
learning through recent experiences
while social vulnerability in Bangladesh
turned the disaster into an
unmanageable scale and devastation.
Buffering
Natural barriers made little difference to
the impact of the tsunami wave at its
epicentre when it hit the Indonesian
shoreline in 2004. But further away, in
Sri Lanka the energy of smaller waves
was reduced by natural barriers in the
shape of extensive vegetation and
mangroves. These barriers reduced
human and property losses. Enhance the
ability and capacity of natural resources,
such as coral reefs, to recover from severe
events and we could build ecosystem
resilience and safeguard the livelihoods
of fisherfolk.
Getting organised
Active civil networks together with good mismanaged coastal crises.
governance systems make it easier for
institutions to adapt rapidly when it
comes to managing crisis situations. The
response to the sinking of the Prestige oil
tanker and the subsequent oil spill off
the Spanish coast in 2002 demonstrates
why this is important. The oil spill
represented the largest environmental
disaster in Spain’s history polluting
thousands of kilometres of coastline.
Widescale concern from the public led to
thousands of volunteers turning up at
beaches to help with the clean up
operation only to find that tools and
accommodation were not available for
all. This inability for quick and effective
adaptation on the part of institutions,
combined with the public’s good willed,
but disorganised appearance illustrates
the need for a more organised, structured
society.
We pay, we say – sharing
responsibility
For those most directly-affected,
(communities, households and
individuals), a far greater dialogue
should be undertaken with all available
actions clearly discussed so that they can
make decisions and understand
consequences through informed
thought, eg deciding to live in a flood
risk area. If there is something the ICM
community all agree on, it is the need to
understand the human role in creating
vulnerability to evaluate risk.
Differences of power, wealth and
geography pose the greatest threat to our
survival and well- being. We need a new
vision to redefine coastal development
and policies but we must speak the same
language, share recognition of threats
and work towards consensus as all
nations and regions share responsibility
regarding mitigation, adaptation and
resilience in coastal areas. Otherwise we
could all be paying the price of
Manuela de los Rios is CoastNet’s new
Information and Communications
Manager. Contact her at:
manuela.delosrios@coastnet.org.uk