An exploratory study of the link between investment in transportation infrastructure and disaster impact

Purpose of this paper
Disasters affect millions of individuals each year and the current trend shows an increase in these numbers. The aim of this paper is to explore whether investments in transportation infrastructure in areas affected by disasters has a link with the number of people affected by disasters.
Design/methodology/approach
Drawing on disaster models from the existing literature, the paper uses a regression model with secondary data about investment from 2005-2010 to explore the link between transport infrastructure investment and people affected by disasters in 2011.
Findings
The multivariate model presented in this paper shows that there is a significant link between the investments made in transport infrastructure and a reduction of the number of affected people in disasters.
Research limitations
The research and model of this paper is limited by its sample size as well as by the secondary data which does not record all transportation investments made by governments but only the ones made through World Bank projects.
Practical implications
The results help understand what could be one of the many drivers behind reducing the amount of people affected by disasters. The results can further be used by policy and decision makers to take knowledgeable decisions when investing in disaster prone countries.
Originality of paper
This paper is original since it looks at a new variable that has not been studied previously and that might affect disaster outcomes.