Do economic development and disaster adaptation measures reduce the impact of natural disasters? A district-level analysis, Odisha, India

Natural disasters are a regular phenomenon in Odisha due to its unique geo-climatic conditions. Frequent occurrences of natural disasters affect different aspects of human life and cause huge damage to private and public property. We examine the effects of economic development, basic disaster adaptation measures, and exposure to disaster on disaster fatalities due to floods, heat-wave, and lightning. We use district-level panel data for 30 districts in Odisha over the period 1999-2011. The FE Poisson estimates suggest that economic development (proxied by per capita income) is not adequate to minimize fatalities from natural disasters. The results further confirm that better disaster adaptation measures such as better medical facilities, adequate road infrastructure, higher primary enrolment, village electrification, forest cover, and financial accessibility help in mitigating disaster fatalities to some extent. In addition, the estimates indicate that disaster-specific exposures such as high incidences of floods, excessive rainfall during monsoon, high temperature, and humidity lead to an increase in disaster fatalities. In sum, our results conclude that adequate disaster adaptation measures and better disaster management policies are essential to mitigate fatalities from natural disasters in the districts of Odisha, India.