No abstract

Natural factors such as geological conditions, climate change, and depletion of mineral resources may affect economic sustainability and development. Natural resource degradation increases global challenges such as scarcity of resources, water, and land; hence, countries are exposed to natural disasters. Nevertheless, do natural disasters cause a rise in terrorist attacks? In general, terrorist attacks cause death, suffering, and severely affect social and economic situations, as well as national politics. The determinants of terrorist events are a popular issue globally that attract both researchers and policymakers. This research involved a structured methodology using a panel logit model between natural disaster and terrorism. It covered the binary data of terrorist attacks, which allowed the researchers to recognize the determinants that could lead to conflict. Based on the research of detailed data of 127 countries between 1970 and 2014, it was found that there is a strong positive relationship between the total number of deaths and the total occurrences of natural disasters and terrorist attacks. On the other hand, the total damage caused by natural disasters has a significant negative relationship with terrorist attacks. For other variables, the result gives a consistent significant relationship. From the findings, it may be concluded that rapid occurrences of natural disasters will increase the risk of terrorist attacks.