Unnatural disasters: Human choices lead to inequity in Latin America

Published: 2007-08-30

ICA, Peru (CNS) -- The cracks in the walls of Eliseo Cardenas Carhuapuma's adobe house are so deep that he is afraid for his son to play inside. The family has moved its scant possessions outdoors, rigging up a straw mat to shield them from the damp morning air. Like many people whose homes were damaged or destroyed in the earthquake that struck Peru Aug. 15, Cardenas and his wife, Nancy Cabrera Hernandez, had little to start with. Now they must rebuild. Earthquakes, hurricanes, droughts and floods leave searing images of desperate people who have lost what little they had. They also raise a question: Why do the poor suffer most from natural disasters? The answer may seem obvious. When the house, crops and livestock are swept away, a poor family loses its savings and sole means of livelihood. But the problem goes deeper. In fact, experts say, the question is wrong. "The disasters are not natural," said Guido Eguiguren, who heads the Honduras office of Action by Churches Together, an interdenominational humanitarian aid organization. "The phenomenon may be natural, but the disaster is the result of human action." Examples include bridges or dams that are built without taking into consideration water flow when precipitation is unseasonably high, or a road built at the foot of a hillside that has been stripped of trees, where the next heavy rain may trigger a landslide.

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