Valuing disaster risk reduction neighborhood interventions in informal settlements of Latin American and the Caribbean

This study assesses the dollar benefit of a neighborhood approach intervention on disaster risk reduction in small-sized, densely populated, and hazard-prone informal settlements across Latin American and Caribbean countries. The authors use a life satisfaction approach that assigns a dollar value to gains in wellbeing associated with the neighborhood approach intervention. Their primary data was a survey to a sample of 349 beneficiaries from small towns in Haiti, Guatemala, and Jamaica, and in major cities’ surrounded areas of Peru, Colombia, and Honduras. Out of 14 interventions, the authors found that community empowerment, physical works in public spaces and urban gardens/food approaches produced a gain of USD 1,038 to USD 1,241 to individual beneficiaries.

The study suggests a large benefit associated with the neighborhood approach intervention. It also shows that the life satisfaction approach is a promising method for the valuation of non-market and public goods, especially for countries where data on hazards and risks is not available to help monetize risk reductions.