Helpdesk Research Report www.gsdrc.org helpdesk@gsdrc.org Impact of extensive disasters Evie Browne 17.10.2013 Question Please identify literature which captures the impact of extensive disasters on vulnerable communities (and if possible makes comparisons with the impact of intensive disasters). Please provide a summary of the literature and annotated bibliography. Contents 1. Overview 2. Summary of the literature 3. Global Assessment Report 4. Other resources 5. About this report 1. Overview Extensive risk is defined by the United Nations International Strategy for Disaster Reduction (UNISDR) as The widespread risk associated with the exposure of dispersed populations to repeated or persistent hazard conditions of low or moderate intensity, often of a highly localized nature, which can lead to debilitating cumulative disaster impacts 1 . UNISDR further describes extensive risk in the 2009 Global Assessment Report on Disaster Risk Reduction 2 as causing frequently occurring low-intensity losses, particularly emphasising the large number of people affected and damage to infrastructure. Extensive disasters do not generate major mortality or destruction of economic assets, but expose vulnerable people to low and moderate intensity hazard. Examples of types of extensive disasters are given in the literature as floods, landslides, storms, fires and so on – these are often weather-related. This report collates available literature discussing the impacts of extensive risk and extensive disasters, in the form of a summary and annotated bibliography. 1 http://www.unisdr.org/we/inform/terminology#letter-e 2 United Nations International Strategy for Disaster Reduction Secretariat (UNISDR). (2009). Global Assessment Report on Disaster Risk Reduction: Risk and poverty in a changing climate: Invest today for a safer tomorrow. United Nations. www.preventionweb.net/gar09