Private and Public Responses to Climate Shocks

Climate shocks are also known as covariant as they strike groups of households or entire communities at the same time. However, their scope could vary from a few households within a village to an entire country. In addition, the frequency, length and severity can vary widely across natural disasters having different implications for the implementation of responses. An earthquake despite being relatively short-spanned could have catastrophic consequences as opposed to a series of frequent, but less intense floods. The effectiveness of responses can also differ according to the length of the natural disaster; a one-off event (such as a hurricane) will have different implications than a more spread disaster as the case of droughts.