Disaster Resilience to Food Insecurity Metrics: A Case Study in Rural Costa Rica

Date

2014-11

Authors

Cano Amaya, Laura

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Abstract

The impact of disasters on food security can be devastating, especially in rural settings where livelihoods are closely tied to their productive assets. A new research agenda in food security explores the characteristics of resilient households and the effectiveness of disaster response programming in assisting households and communities recover after a natural disaster. To increase our understanding of the disaster recovery process, there is a need for the development of metrics to measure resilience to food insecurity based on empirical data. With this end in mind, this study was concerned with the development of an integrative conceptual framework and the identification of indicators that would increase our understanding on the influential factors in creating disaster resiliency to food insecurity. The conceptual framework comprises commonalities among the food security and hazards disciplines’ perspectives on disaster resilience. By identifying and integrating commonalities among disciplines in its conceptual and analytical frameworks, this study addresses the need for collaborative work across disciplines on community resiliency research. This is an empirical study conducted in six communities in Costa Rica affected by the 2009 earthquake. Households categorized as total loss in the communities selected were surveyed to collect primary data. The data obtained through the 126 households surveyed was run to a series of multivariate analyses to create a resilience index. The results show the important influence of adaptive capacity, when the absorptive capacity threshold of households is surpassed. In addition, religion and community cohesiveness were identified as influential factors impacting resiliency to food insecurity needing further exploration.

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Keywords

Food security, Resilience, Earthquake

Citation

Cano A. L. (2014). <i>Disaster resilience to food insecurity metrics: A case study in rural Costa Rica</i> (Unpublished dissertation). Texas State University, San Marcos, Texas.

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