Social ecological resilience to coastal disasters

Human populations that are in coastal regions are vulnerable to many hazards and risks from floods to tsunamis, hurricanes, marine-related disease and epidemics. In 1992, for instance, 23 people died in Florida when Hurricane Andrew hit the coastal region, and, again in 1991, 100,000 deaths occurred in Bangladesh through a similar tropical typhoon. It is important for human settlement to be resilient to such ongoing risks. Through reviewing two case studies, that of the 2004 Asian tsunami and the other extracted from research in adapting to severe storms and climate changes in coastal regions, Adgar et al. (2005) show how coastal zones can be transformed into more resilient zones. Essentially, by government interventions being involved in dealing with natural hazards and taking steps to prevent future risks, coastal regions can be made more resilient. The vulnerability of coastal regions is exacerbated by human action. Employing multi-level human networks that would work on a legal, political, and financial scope to prevent disasters from occurring, or at least to mitigate their effect when they do occur, would be most effective for socio-ecological endurance.

Analysis

There was only one point-of-view discussed that gave one taut, tightly-knit piece of reasoning for the authors' argument.

The entire argument was built on empirical evidence, historical incidents, realism, and two case studies: that of the 2004 Asian tsunami and the other extracted from research in adapting to severe storms and climate changes in coastal regions. Essentially, too, their argument is constructed on pure common sense and would appeal to readers and be intuitive even without the supporting evidence.

The authors liberally use numerical data to provide credence to their perspective. They state "globally, 1.2 billion people live within 100 km of the coast and that 50% of the world's population are likely to do so by 2030" (p.1036). Citing a host of adverse climactic circumstances and other negative phenomena that impacts the coastal zone, as well as historical incidents where large-scale casualties occurred in these regions, they provide a hypothetical- argument for the need for resilience of citizens of these coastal regions. They go on to demonstrate how, given today's expanded global connection, tragedy can more intensively impact wider swathes and lead to exacerbated damage, and, on the other hand, how condensed and unified human agency (on multiple NGO and governmental levels) can enhance resilience. Their argument is built on empirical evidence (the 2004 case history of the Asian tsunami) as well as research on planning for and adapting to storms and climactic changes in coastal zones and on small islands, and they proceed in an inferential, closely reasoned manner. In regards to the 2004 Asian tsunami, effective and instinctive positive response encouraged socio-ecologial resilience to the disaster. In other regions, however, where ecosystems have been undermined through lack of government interest, coastal zones have had a harder time resisting disaster.