Economic impacts of hurricanes

1. Economic impacts of hurricanes By Bethan McDaid

2. Distribution of hurricanes • Distribution of hurricanes from 1950-2000. The distribution is clustered in three main areas. The united states, Australia/new Zealand and south and south east Asia. Many severely poor areas such as much of Africa and South America are avoided. (Greenfeildgeography, no date)

3. Hurricane Hazards

4. Hurricane Katrina

5. Economic impacts of Hurricane Katrina National scale • Total cost of the damage = $108 billion, however $80 billion was covered by insurance (Amadeo, n.d.) • 30 oil platforms were destroyed and 9 oil refineries closed for 6 months – petrol prices in the UK and US. In the US the cost almost reached $5 per gallon (Doylie, 2011), and it damaged 457 oil and gas lines • Bridges (including the Twin Span Bridge) and roads destroyed • 53 levees destroyed – caused flooding and further costs • At first – 118 million cubic miles of debris – cost to clear it up (Amadeo, n.d.) • Lack of housing – rents have increased by 40%

6. Why did hurricane Katrina affect the economy so much? • Economic GDP dip – before hurricane = 3.8%, just after = 1.3% • There were engineering mistakes in New Orlean’s levees – 169 miles of the 350 mile system was ruined. This meant huge amounts of flooding (Levin, 2006)) (USGS, 2016) – this flooded 80% of the city. • But due to a strong economy the economic dip didn’t last long and the GDP to restored and increased to 4.8% by January – March the following year

7. Hurricane Georges

8. Economic impacts of Hurricane Georges International scale • Total estimated damage = $5.9 billion • BHR/OFDA provided $25,000 to the US Embassy for immediate disaster needs • On the 29th September – they also contributed $300,000 to PAHO’s appeal for emergency assistance to Haiti • USAID pledged $22.5 million in relief and recovery (US agency of international development, 1998) • In the first 60 days – American Red Cross spent $104 million in relief services (Guiney, 1999)

9. Conclusions • Economic impacts vary massively depending where you are in the world • Economic impacts tend to be more severe in richer countries – building materials used are more expensive e.g. concrete/brick. BUT they don’t last as long as economies can rebuild quickly. • Poorer countries suffer with more social issues – may include personal economic issues. • Poorer countries have more long term economic impacts such as debt, and therefore often not being able to rebuild- repair damaged areas. This adds to the long lasting social impacts e.g. homelessness/temporary housing for years.

10. References Amadeo, K., (no date)., “Hurricane Katrina Facts: Damage and Costs”., The Balance., https://www.thebalance.com/hurricane-katrina-facts-damage-and-economic-effects-3306023 Doylie, A., (2011) “Short and long term impacts of Huirrcane Katrina”., Prezi http://prezi.com/hjzbqgw8-bx9/short-long-term-impacts -of-hurricane-katrina/ US Agency for International Development (1998) “Caribbean, Dominican Republic, Haiti - Hurricane Georges Fact Sheet #6”., ReliefWeb. https://reliefweb.int/report/antigua-and-barbuda/caribbean-dominican-republic-haiti-hurricane-georges-fact-sheet-6 Greenfieldgeography., (no date) – “Hurricanes” http://greenfieldgeography.wikispaces.com/Hurricanes NOAA., (no date) “Storm Surge Overview”., http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/surge/ Levin. A., (2006)., “Why the levees failed”., USA today., http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/news/nation/2006-06-01-levees_x.htm