Handbook for Assessing the Socioeconomic and Environmental Impact of Disasters (ECLAC, 2003)

Based on the work it has carried out since the early 1970s to assess the impact of the most significant disasters in the Region, the United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) developed a methodology for assessing the damage and losses caused by natural disasters. ECLAC published a handbook on the methodology in 1991.

Drawing on the lessons since learned in assessing numerous additional disasters over the past decade, as well as the development of new and complementary concepts, ECLAC presents an expanded, revised edition of the handbook that has been enriched by the contributions of distinguished experts and consultants from both the Region and abroad. It is the result of the conceptual analysis of a great variety of adverse natural events that have taken place in Latin America and the Caribbean in the course of three decades.

The handbook not only refines the application of the methodology to several sectors already considered in the 1991 edition, but incorporates new sectors as well as significant recent advances in disaster impact assessment. Readers will learn how to employ a uniform, coherent, and time-tested methodology for identifying and quantifying the impact of various disasters on the affected social, economic and environmental sectors. They will also be able to determine which geographical areas have been most affected and therefore require priority attention during the rehabilitation and reconstruction process.