Avoiding Disaster Deaths - Why Do So Many People Die?

This book introduces a pathbreaking approach called Avoidable Disaster Deaths (ADD) to reduce disaster deaths.
Disaster deaths are the direct and indirect impact of hazards. The Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction has urged the United Nations Member States to reduce disaster deaths or mortality by 2030. Reducing the number of disaster deaths has become a useful marker for improving disaster risk management. Equally important is knowing how people die, who dies, why they die, and which disaster deaths are avoidable and unavoidable . Disaster risk reduction specialists have not fully examined these questions. 
Built from disaster risk reduction, public health, epidemiology, human geography, risk and crisis management studies, the ADD approach disaggregates disaster deaths into avoidable and unavoidable. Avoidable disaster deaths are preventable, amenable and governance-related. Unavoidable deaths are those that occur annually due to natural causes or poverty-related diseases. In a disaster climate, the emphasis should be on reducing avoidable disaster deaths in a resource-constrained context.
Using the context of COVID-19 and the economic lockdown in India, the analytical advantage of this approach is explored. Doing so, the book brings forth human stories whose lives were cut short and introduces novel matrices and dynamic strategies to ascertain the cause and circumstances of avoidable disaster deaths to develop the capacity of disaster and health responders.  
The book is suitable for students, academics, policy-makers and practitioners interested in disaster risk reduction, human rights, risk and crisis management, environmental science, human geography, Sustainable Development and Sendai Goals. 
The book is also suitable for passionate citizens who want to capture the number, causes and circumstances of avoidable disaster deaths and take positive action to save lives in their communities.
Professor Nibedita S. Ray-Bennett ably presents a novel avoidable disaster deaths approach to disaster risk reduction and management by presenting cogent arguments rooted in solid theory and up to date literature reviews, complemented by a wealth of data and analysis from the Indian Covid 19 experience.
The book includes a range of tables and diagrams that crystallise approaches and practices useful for policy makers and practitioners alike.  The book is highly informed, well written, accessible, practical and useful, with an optimal mix of strong, well-tested academic theory, and important recommendations that demand serious consideration by all involved and interested in disasters.  A spur to action and inspiration.
(Professor Michael Petterson, School of Social Sciences, Auckland University of Technology, New Zealand)

List of contents

Chapter 1. What is a Disaster?.- Chapter 2. What Leads to Disaster Disasters?.- Chapter 3. How Can Disaster Deaths be Reduced?.- Chapter 4. Unavoidable Deaths in India.- Chapter 5. Governance for COVID-19 in India.- Chapter 6. Avoidable Disaster Deaths in India.- Chapter 7. Avoidable Disaster Deaths Approach Revisited.- Index.

About the author

Professor Nibedita S. Ray-Bennett is a social scientist specialising in disaster risk reduction and international development at the interface with public health.
She is the founding president of the Avoidable Deaths Network (ADN), a founding governing board member and interim associate director of the Institute for Environmental Futures at the University of Leicester. Nibedita is a global expert at the International Science Council.
She launched the flexible learning MSc Risk, Crisis, and Disaster Management in 2020. In 2023, she launched the ADN’s global campaign, ‘International Awareness Day for Avoidable Deaths’ (IAD4AD), with her research partner, Dr Hideyuki Shiroshita.

Summary

This book introduces a pathbreaking approach called ‘Avoidable Disaster Deaths’ (ADD) to reduce disaster deaths.
Disaster deaths are the direct and indirect impact of hazards. The ‘Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction’ has urged the United Nations Member States to reduce disaster deaths or mortality by 2030. Reducing the number of disaster deaths has become a useful marker for improving disaster risk management. Equally important is knowing how people die, who dies, why they die, and which disaster deaths are ‘avoidable’ and ‘unavoidable’. Disaster risk reduction specialists have not fully examined these questions. 
Built from disaster risk reduction, public health, epidemiology, human geography, risk and crisis management studies, the ADD approach disaggregates disaster deaths into avoidable and unavoidable. Avoidable disaster deaths are preventable, amenable and governance-related. Unavoidable deaths are those that occur annually due to natural causes or poverty-related diseases. In a disaster climate, the emphasis should be on reducing avoidable disaster deaths in a resource-constrained context.
Using the context of COVID-19 and the economic lockdown in India, the analytical advantage of this approach is explored. Doing so, the book brings forth human stories whose lives were cut short and introduces novel matrices and dynamic strategies to ascertain the ‘cause and circumstances’ of avoidable disaster deaths to develop the capacity of disaster and health responders.  
The book is suitable for students, academics, policy-makers and practitioners interested in disaster risk reduction, human rights, risk and crisis management, environmental science, human geography, Sustainable Development and Sendai Goals. 
The book is also suitable for passionate citizens who want to capture the number, causes and circumstances of avoidable disaster deaths and take positive action to save lives in their communities.
Professor Nibedita S. Ray-Bennett ably presents a novel ‘avoidable disaster deaths’ approach to disaster risk reduction and management by presenting cogent arguments rooted in solid theory and up to date literature reviews, complemented by a wealth of data and analysis from the Indian Covid 19 experience.
The book includes a range of tables and diagrams that crystallise approaches and practices useful for policy makers and practitioners alike.  The book is highly informed, well written, accessible, practical and useful, with an optimal mix of strong, well-tested academic theory, and important recommendations that demand serious consideration by all involved and interested in disasters.  A spur to action and inspiration.
(Professor Michael Petterson, School of Social Sciences, Auckland University of Technology, New Zealand)

Additional text

This book presents an ‘avoidable deaths systems’ approach to disaster and risk reduction and management.  Professor Nibedita S. Ray-Bennett ably presents a novel analysis of disaster risk management (DRM) by presenting cogent arguments rooted in solid theory and up to date literature reviews, complemented by a wealth of data and analysis from the Indian Covid 19 experience.
The first three chapters deconvolute various approaches to DRM, with numerous references to international agreements such as the Sendai Framework.  Key questions that are asked concerning disasters include: how many people die? what are the causes and circumstances of every death? how can deaths be classified?  Two approaches are advocated to further develop DRM: 1) a complex systems approach; and 2) an avoidable deaths system approach.  Complex Systems approaches attempt to take account of the numerous societal and systems factors that can lead to death in disasters including poverty, levels of nutrition, the state of health services, governance and administration.  An Avoidable Deaths Systems approach first asks the question: was a particular death unavoidable or avoidable? and then subdivides the ‘avoidability’ in terms of amenability (e.g. absence of timely health care), preventability factors analysis, and governance related issues.  The statistical knowledge of the whole picture that surrounds deaths within a disaster context in the shorter and longer term is stressed as vital to any analysis.Three chapters use the case study of Covid-19 in India as a ‘testing ground’ for the avoidable deaths systems approach.  A range of data sources from government, media, and interviews are used to elucidate key learnings of the Indian case study.  Some of the case study learnings include: 1) aspects of the initial forceful nature of the lockdown approach; 2) a deep analysis of the ‘Three C’s’ DRM approach: communication, collaboration and coordination; 3) a thorough examination of the complexity of governance and administration within a huge country based on federal, state, and inter-governmental actors; and 4) the use of illustrative case studies of avoidable deaths to highlight potential better ways forward.
The book ends by summarising key aspects of the book, emphasising the importance of public health and governance as two key elements in DRM and reducing avoidable deaths, and recommending that the Sendai Framework can change emphasis on deaths to one that also includes avoidable deaths.  The book includes a range of tables and diagrams that crystallise approaches and practices useful for policy makers and practitioners alike.  The book is highly informed, well written, accessible, practical and useful, with an optimal mix of strong, well-tested academic theory, and important recommendations that demand serious consideration by all involved and interested in disasters.  A spur to action and inspiration. 
Michael G Petterson Professor of Geology, School of Science, Auckland University of Technology
See:  Hagen, K., Petterson, M. G., Humphreys, D., & Clark, N. (2021). Why Disaster Subcultures Matter: A Tale of Two Communities: How and Why the 2007 Western Solomon Islands Tsunami Disaster Led to Different Outcomes for Two Ghizo Communities. Geosciences, 11(9), 387. https://doi.org/10.3390/geosciences11090387As an example of my work that helps illuminate aspects of the Avoidable Deaths Systems approach
In her book titled Avoiding Disaster Deaths: Why Do Many People Die; Professor Nibedita S. Ray-Bennett examines avoidable and unavoidable deaths. Her focus is confined to disaster deaths in India, particularly the COVID-19 pandemic. The fact that she originates from India strengthens the book because she is able to draw upon extensive field experience. This book provides a novel approach given that most of the existing literature focuses on direct and indirect mortality resulting from extreme natural disasters. The book contributes to the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR) and the Sendai for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015-2030. This notable book will encourage further research into natural disaster deaths among  managers, practitioners, teachers, and students alike.  
Bimal Kanti Paul,Professor of Department of Geography & Geospatial Analysis, Kansas State University, Manhattan, USA. Author of the book Disaster Deaths: Trends, Causes and Determinants (2021, Routledge).

Report

This book presents an 'avoidable deaths systems' approach to disaster and risk reduction and management.  Professor Nibedita S. Ray-Bennett ably presents a novel analysis of disaster risk management (DRM) by presenting cogent arguments rooted in solid theory and up to date literature reviews, complemented by a wealth of data and analysis from the Indian Covid 19 experience.
The first three chapters deconvolute various approaches to DRM, with numerous references to international agreements such as the Sendai Framework.  Key questions that are asked concerning disasters include: how many people die? what are the causes and circumstances of every death? how can deaths be classified?  Two approaches are advocated to further develop DRM: 1) a complex systems approach; and 2) an avoidable deaths system approach.  Complex Systems approaches attempt to take account of the numerous societal and systems factors that can lead to death in disasters including poverty, levels of nutrition, the state of health services, governance and administration.  An Avoidable Deaths Systems approach first asks the question: was a particular death unavoidable or avoidable? and then subdivides the 'avoidability' in terms of amenability (e.g. absence of timely health care), preventability factors analysis, and governance related issues.  The statistical knowledge of the whole picture that surrounds deaths within a disaster context in the shorter and longer term is stressed as vital to any analysis.Three chapters use the case study of Covid-19 in India as a 'testing ground' for the avoidable deaths systems approach.  A range of data sources from government, media, and interviews are used to elucidate key learnings of the Indian case study.  Some of the case study learnings include: 1) aspects of the initial forceful nature of the lockdown approach; 2) a deep analysis of the 'Three C's' DRM approach: communication, collaboration and coordination; 3) a thorough examination of the complexity of governance and administration within a huge country based on federal, state, and inter-governmental actors; and 4) the use of illustrative case studies of avoidable deaths to highlight potential better ways forward.
The book ends by summarising key aspects of the book, emphasising the importance of public health and governance as two key elements in DRM and reducing avoidable deaths, and recommending that the Sendai Framework can change emphasis on deaths to one that also includes avoidable deaths.  The book includes a range of tables and diagrams that crystallise approaches and practices useful for policy makers and practitioners alike.  The book is highly informed, well written, accessible, practical and useful, with an optimal mix of strong, well-tested academic theory, and important recommendations that demand serious consideration by all involved and interested in disasters.  A spur to action and inspiration. 
Michael G Petterson Professor of Geology, School of Science, Auckland University of Technology
See:  Hagen, K., Petterson, M. G., Humphreys, D., & Clark, N. (2021). Why Disaster Subcultures Matter: A Tale of Two Communities: How and Why the 2007 Western Solomon Islands Tsunami Disaster Led to Different Outcomes for Two Ghizo Communities. Geosciences, 11(9), 387. https://doi.org/10.3390/geosciences11090387As an example of my work that helps illuminate aspects of the Avoidable Deaths Systems approach
In her book titled Avoiding Disaster Deaths: Why Do Many People Die; Professor Nibedita S. Ray-Bennett examines avoidable and unavoidable deaths. Her focus is confined to disaster deaths in India, particularly the COVID-19 pandemic. The fact that she originates from India strengthens the book because she is able to draw upon extensive field experience. This book provides a novel approach given that most of the existing literature focuses on direct and indirect mortality resulting from extreme natural disasters. The book contributes to the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR) and the Sendai for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015-2030. This notable book will encourage further research into natural disaster deaths among  managers, practitioners, teachers, and students alike.  
Bimal Kanti Paul,Professor of Department of Geography & Geospatial Analysis, Kansas State University, Manhattan, USA. Author of the book Disaster Deaths: Trends, Causes and Determinants (2021, Routledge).

Product details

• Authors: Nibedita S Ray-Bennett, Nibedita S. Ray-Bennett
• Publisher: Springer, Berlin
• Languages: English
• Product format: Hardback
• Released: 05.02.2025
• EAN: 9783031812996
• ISBN: 978-3-0-3181299-6
• No. of pages: 143
• Dimensions: 155 mm x 12 mm x 235 mm
• Weight: 362 g
• Illustrations: XIX, 143 p. 9 illus., 5 illus. in color.
• Subjects: Natural sciences, medicine, IT, technology > Geosciences > Miscellaneous; Soziologie, Umweltmanagement, Gesellschaft und Sozialwissenschaften, Society, Humangeographie, Umweltfaktoren in der Medizin, Environmental Health, Environmental Management, Natural Hazards, Human Geography, disaster risk reduction, Avoidable Disaster Deaths’ (ADD), Unavoidable deaths, Disaster risk governance, Biological disaster (COVID-19), Substantially reduce disaster mortality by 2030, Communication, coordination, collaboration, Causes and circumstances of avoidable disaster deaths, Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction’