Effects of natural disasters on social and economic well being: A study in Nigeria

The study set out to assess the effects of natural disasters on households' livelihoods, their assets and other aspects of well being in Nigeria. As expected, there were differential impacts on respondents from natural disaster occurrences. Floods were found to be the most common natural disaster type in a study carried out in six states of the country. Findings from the survey conducted on 1116 respondents show that a significant proportion of respondents' experienced severe negative effects on their dwelling units (47%), household assets (41%) and on children's schooling (45%). Others suffered severe health related impacts, while access to utilities such as electricity and water supply was also severely constrained for some. About half of the respondents from rural areas were displaced as a result of natural disaster events. Children formed the highest number among those displaced. The damage/loss/replacement assessment shows that respondents spent a little above N200,000 on the average to replace losses and fix damages incurred from natural disaster impacts. Urban/rural differentials show that mean spending to replace losses was higher for rural respondents, although these also had lower average earnings. Male/female analysis of natural disaster impacts shows that males had a higher proportion of spending. The chi-square test to analyze significant differences in level of spending to fix damages show significant differences for urban/rural groups, as well as for male/female groups (P < 0.05). The authors suggest the need for insurance schemes with counterpart government funding to ensure speedy recovery from natural disaster impacts for all categories of people. (C) 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.