FAMILY FORMATION, HOUSEHOLD COMPOSITION AND HEALTH FOLLOWING NATURAL DISASTERS: A CROSS-CULTURAL STUDY OF SELECTED DISASTERS IN IRAN, TAIWAN AND MYANMAR

The demography of disasters is an emerging, under-researched field of potentially great significance for public policy specialists and disaster risk reduction managers, especially in the context of the increasing intensity and frequency of natural disasters arising from climate change. There is growing awareness of the need to bring together the demography, disasters and development research communities to investigate issues at the intersection of these three important contextual frameworks. (UNDP, 2009) Asia, which has the largest part of the world’s population, experiences the majority of natural disasters, has the highest proportion of mortalities, and suffers the most extensive losses in terms of both material assets and human resources(IFRCRCS, 2009). This is a function of both socially constructed vulnerability (Cutter, 1996) and risk governance. To enhance our understanding of the cross-sectoral nature of the demography of disasters, this paper examines issues impacting on family formation, household composition and health following recent disasters in Iran, Taiwan and Myanmar. It takes into account the cross-cultural contexts, and differences in governance. Initial findings suggest that while women and children suffer the highest mortalities during disasters, re-marriage patterns are not linear.