
Corruption
Corruption is an engine of poverty and vulnerability. Impoverished communities suffer a disproportionate share of losses and are rendered less able to counter subsequent extremes.
Corruption is a significant cause of building failure in earthquakes. Reinforced concrete, used all over the world, will fail if cement and steel are not adequate. Buildings will collapse and occupants, users and neighbours will lose their lives. Only afterwards does wreckage and rubble reveal the causes of failure, the deaths, injuries, bereavement and loss, and what should have been the social purpose of building.
“Earthquakes don’t kill people; collapsing buildings do. While earthquakes may not be preventable, it is possible to prevent the disasters they cause. Many deaths ... result from buildings that folded in on themselves because concrete was diluted, steel bars were excised, or otherwise substandard building practices were employed.”
James Lewis, Global Corruption Report, 2005 Transparency International. Berlin. p23.
For the eradication of corruption a free media is pre-requisite; countries with a high incidence of corruption invariably have a controlled media (CHARTPressSubjug.pdf).
Publications
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Climate-proofing development: corruption risks in adaptation infrastructure
2011Global Corruption Report 2011Corruption & Climate Change; Part 5, Item 5.3Transparency International, Berlin -
Corruption and post-disaster reconstruction (Box)
2011The Handbook of Natural Hazards and Disaster Risk ReductionRoutledge, London -
Corruption Costs Lives
2011A guide for journalists covering disaster risk reductionAnnex III, pp183-185United Nations: International Strategy for Disaster Reduction (UNISDR) -
The Pat Reid Lecture 2010. Corruption: The hidden perpetrator of under-development and vulnerability to natural hazards and disasters
2011JàmbáVol 3, No 2, pp 464-475African Centre for Disaster Studies, North West University, Potchefstroom, Republic of South Africahttp://www.jamba.org.za/index.php/jamba/search/results -
Press subjugation and perceived corruption in sixteen selected earthquake-prone countries
2010Datum International -
How corruption can prevent the implementation of disaster risk reduction policies.
2008Corruption costs lives. Annex 3.Disaster through a distant lens: Behind every effect there is a cause. A guide to journalists covering disaster reduction.United Nations -
The Worm in the Bud: Corruption, construction and catastrophe
2008Chapter 12 in: Hazards and the Built EnvironmentTaylor & FrancisLee Bosher: Ed -
Corruption and earthquake destruction: Observations on events in Turkey, Italy and China
2008RADIX25.5.08, Revised November 2010 -
Earthquake destruction: corruption on the fault line
2005Global Corruption Report 2005Corruption in Construction Part 1. pp23-30Transparency International, Berlin