The Constant Catastrophe

The Constant Catastrophe: Malnutrition, Famines, and Drought deals with the 1972 drought, and emphasizes the underlying social conditions that are related to its effects. The book examines the relationship of drought as a meteorological event and the famine that results as a social event. The effects of natural catastrophes become transformed by social structures and political processes in many countries of the world, more than which can be attributable to the physical cause itself. A striking parallelism that emerges in the study is that climatological analysis implies reference to large scale space and time processes. Famine also occurs as anomalies within large-scale processes in society-famine changes nutritional levels in communities. The text proposes a theoretical framework for a methodologically-adequate diagnostic tool that can be used in studying the "factual events" in previous cases of major disasters due to climactic factors. Case studies include those that happened in the Sahel, Ethiopia, India, China, the United Kingdom, and Brazil. Among several recommendations, one which the book proposes in the management of the effects of drought, is to adopt an approach similar to that of the Red Cross. The book is suitable for economists, environmentalists, ecologists, and policy makers involved in crisis management, food production, and rural development.

IntroductionPart One: The Background Chapter 1 The Impact of Drought on Nutrition Chapter 2 Human Needs of Food Annex 1: European Diets vs Traditional Foods Annex 2: Early Cognitive Development and Malnutrition Chapter 3 The Magnitude and Distribution of Human Malnutrition Chapter 4 The Problem of Measuring Malnutrition Chapter 5 A Structural Approach for Diagnosing the Impact of Climatic Anomalies Chapter 6 The Population-Resources Balance Annex 1: The Neo-Malthusian Argument and Nutritional Policies Chapter 7 Responses to Drought-Induced National DisastersPart Two: Case Studies Chapter 8 The Sahel and Ethiopia Annex 1: Health Levels in the Sahel and Incidence of the 1972 Drought Annex 2: The Ethiopian Famines of the 1970's: Living Conditions in Ethiopia Chapter 9 Counterpoint One: India and China Annex 1: Impact of Drought on Nutrition and Health Status of the Population of India Annex 2: Ending Famines in China Chapter 10 Counterpoint Two: Food Distribution Policies in China and the United Kingdom Annex 1: Food Rationing in the United Kingdom during World War II Annex 2: The Distribution of Food in Present Day China Chapter 11 A General Panorama of Malnutrition in Latin America Annex 1: Malnutrition in Argentina Annex 2: Malnutrition in Brazil Chapter 12 Some Suggestions for ActionIndex