Disaster reduction: photos from around the world

The earthquake in Nepal and the ongoing West African Ebola crisis have both claimed thousands of lives— the earthquake around 7,000 and Ebola over 11,000 – in addition to causing untold economic, psychological, and physical suffering.  While tragic, these disasters were not inevitable, and both could be prevented with the right measures. In an recent article on the Nepal earthquake, disaster researcher Ilan Kelman described how better building codes, basic earthquake education, and tackling some of the root causes of poverty could have saved thousands of lives.  Evidence has also emerged that the impacts of Ebola would have been much less if national health systems were stronger and international response more rapid and coordinated.

Over the past decade, more work is being done to prevent disasters like Ebola and the Nepal earthquake from occurring. The photos in this album are scenes of how Concern Worldwide is working with communities, governments, and NGOs in Kenya, Afghanistan, Ethiopia, Bangladesh, and Sierra Leone to reduce disaster risk and build safer and more resilient communities.  They depict the various, often simple, measures being done to reduce risk and make an argument that far from being uncontrollable as inevitable acts of god, disasters are human products rooted in social, economic, and political inequality and powerlessness.  The photos were taken as part of an ongoing 10-country study involving University College Dublin and Concern focused on disaster risk reduction.  The opinions expressed are that of the author and do not represent UCD or Concern.