Natural Hazards Center
Institute of Behavioral Science University of Colorado




Natural Hazards Research and Applications Information Center
Special Publication 38

The Storms of '98:
Hurricanes Georges and Mitch

Impacts, Institutions Response, and Disaster Politics in Three Countries

Richard Stuart Olson

Ricardo A. Alvarez

Bruce P. Baird

Amelia Estrada

Vincent T. Gawronski

Juan Pablo Sarmiento Prieto

2001

Return to the Hazards Center Home Page

Also available on-line, in Spanish from
The Regional Disaster Information Center for Latin America and the Caribbean (CRID)
http://www.crid.or.cr

Table of Contents

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS AND EDITOR'S NOTE

ABSTRACT

  1. INTRODUCTION
    Disasters in Context
    HDI, HPI, and TI's Corruption Index
    1998: A Very Bad Year
    Analytic Purposes

  2. HURRICANCE GEORGES AND THE DOMINICAN REPUBLIC
    Impacts
    Domestic Media Treatment
    Responding to Georges: A Tragedy of Errors
    Blame Themes

  3. HURRICANE MITCH AND HONDURAS
    An Erratic Path
    A Cruel, Nasty Storm
    Media Attention Span
    Assistance Credit
    The Casualty Issue
    Economic Losses: The EIU Assessment
    The Political Context of the Impacts
    Institutional Change and the Politics of Honduran Sidelining
    Blame Themes
    In Sum

  4. HURRICANE MITCH AND NICARAGUA
    Death and Destruction (But the Eyewall Never Came Close)
    Nicaragua: A History of Disaster
    Institutional Evolution: From Somocismo through Civil War to Sandinismo
    Media Attention Span
    Assistance Credit
    Blame Themes
    A Policy Work in Progress: Nicaragua's Post-Mitch Changes and Proposals
    In Sum

  5. CONCLUSION
    Losses (Still) Going Up
    PAHO's "Event Lessons"
    Our Conclusion and the "Accordion Option"

REFERENCES

THE AUTHORS

Forward to Acknowledgments and Editor's Note
Return to the Hazards Center Home Page