Ethnic Diversity and Natural Disaster Mortality: Evidence from the 2011 Tohoku Tsunami

Abstract

This article explores the relationship between ethnic diversity and disaster mortality using community-level mortality data on the 2011 Tohoku tsunami. The findings show that ethnic fragmentation is not significantly correlated with tsunami mortality. However, when fatalities are categorized by 10-year age group, fragmentation is negatively correlated with mortality in extremely vulnerable people, specifically populations aged under 10 years and 80 years or over. This result implies that in ethnically diversified communities, the development of community-based evacuation measures may protect extremely vulnerable age groups.

Keywords: Ethnic diversity; fragmentation; mortality; the 2011 Tohoku tsunami

JEL Classification: H70, J15, Q54