Assessing the impact of the Indian Ocean tsunami on households: a modified domestic assets index approach |
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| Authors: | Sudha Arlikatti Walter Gillis Peacock Carla S Prater Himanshu Grover Arul S Gnana Sekar |
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| Institution: | 1. Assistant Professor in the Department of Public Administration at the University of North Texas, Denton, Texas, United States;2. Professor in the Department of Landscape Architecture and Urban Planning, and Director of the Hazard Reduction and Recovery Center, Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas, United States;3. Lecturer in the Department of Landscape Architecture and Urban Planning and Associate Director of the Hazard Reduction and Recovery Center, Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas, United States;4. Doctoral candidate in the Department of Landscape Architecture and Urban Planning, Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas, United States;5. Team leader of Good Hope Foundation (a Development Professional Group) in Tirumangalam, Madurai, Tamil Nadu, India. |
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| Abstract: | This paper offers a potential measurement solution for assessing disaster impacts and subsequent recovery at the household level by using a modified domestic assets index (MDAI) approach. Assessment of the utility of the domestic assets index first proposed by Bates, Killian and Peacock (1984) has been confined to earthquake areas in the Americas and southern Europe. This paper modifies and extends the approach to the Indian sub‐continent and to coastal surge hazards utilizing data collected from 1,000 households impacted by the Indian Ocean tsunami (2004) in the Nagapattinam district of south‐eastern India. The analyses suggest that the MDAI scale is a reliable and valid measure of household living conditions and is useful in assessing disaster impacts and tracking recovery efforts over time. It can facilitate longitudinal studies, encourage cross‐cultural, cross‐national comparisons of disaster impacts and inform national and international donors of the itemized monetary losses from disasters at the household level. |
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| Keywords: | disaster impact assessment domestic assets index housing recovery India Nagapattinam surge tsunami |
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