Measuring Natural Hazard-Related Disasters through Self-Reports

Exposure to multiple natural hazard-related disasters will become more common due to climate change.This article reports on the development and validation of a cumulative measure of exposure to natural hazard-related disasters(2013–2017)at the area level,and an individual-level measure of disaster impact using data from the Longitudinal Cohort Study on the Filipino Child and linked data from the International Disaster Database(EM-DAT).Caregiver reports of cumulative exposure to disasters had statistically significant associations with disasters reported by neighborhood officials and with disasters in EM-DAT.Using ecometric techniques we generated a reliable community average measure of exposure to natural hazard-related disasters.Based on neighbor but not individual self-reports this exogenous measure of disaster exposure in the local area was more strongly related to EM-DAT and official neighborhood reports than individual reports.To capture household variation we developed an individual-level measure of disaster impacts.Disaster impact was associated with measures of exposure(individual and community average),community ratings by officials,and EM-DAT but only moderately associated with the community average exposure.Both the community average and disaster impacts measures were associated with household income and the adequacy of income in households.