An Exploration of the Disaster-Development Interface: Towards Sustainable Development Through Disaster Management

Abstract

The essay is an anatomy of the interface of disaster management and development, with the aim of drawing a framework for understanding how and why outright development strategies should mainstream disaster management as an elementary ingredient for sustainability. It accounts for why developing countries should consider disasters as a developmental issue insofar as they suffer a double tragedy, that of being 'underdeveloped' and abhorrently vulnerable to disasters. The paper methodologically thrived on desktop research to find out and highlight multifarious case illustrations of the negative ramifications of disasters on development. The analysis proceeded within the theoretical lens of the structural and technocratic approaches to disaster management as conceptual framework. It was avowed that, indeed there is a convoluted relationship between disasters and development, and therefore was seen imperative to mainstream disaster risk management in development planning in order to ensure optimum development outcomes in the long run.