The Allocation of Natural Disaster Relief Funds: Hurricane Mitch in Honduras

While it may be feasible to target those receiving relief after a natural disaster, it is difficult to differentiate the amount of relief provided among beneficiaries. This is because much of the relief consists of food, clothing, and medicine, all goods for which the absorptive capacity of househol...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inWorld development Vol. 31; no. 7; pp. 1279 - 1289
Main Authors Morris, Saul S., Wodon, Quentin
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Oxford Elsevier Ltd 01.07.2003
Elsevier
Pergamon Press Inc
SeriesWorld Development
Subjects
central America
Development studies
Disaster Relief
Economic crisis
Economic theory
Honduras
Household economics
Households
Humanitarian aid
Hurricanes
Natural Disasters
Poverty
Poverty alleviation
Resource Allocation
Studies
Wealth
Central America
Honduras
wealth
central America
disaster relief
H53
Q18
Honduras
poverty
I38
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Summary:While it may be feasible to target those receiving relief after a natural disaster, it is difficult to differentiate the amount of relief provided among beneficiaries. This is because much of the relief consists of food, clothing, and medicine, all goods for which the absorptive capacity of households is limited. Empirical tests using data from Honduras following Hurricane Mitch confirm this hypothesis. The probability of receiving relief was negatively correlated with wealth and positively correlated with assets losses (with a higher weight placed on losses than pre-disaster wealth) and the fact that households suffered damage to their dwelling. By contrast, controlling for whether households suffered damage to their dwelling, the amount of relief received was related neither to pre-Mitch wealth, nor to assets losses.
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ISSN:0305-750X
1873-5991
DOI:10.1016/S0305-750X(03)00072-X