The Natural Disasters Vulnerability Evaluation Model (NDVE-Model) : An Application to the Northeast Japan Earthquake and Tsunami of March 2011

Natural hazards have a potentially large impact on economic growth but measuring their economic impact is subject to a great deal of uncertainty. The central objective of our paper is to set forth a model – the natural disasters vulnerability evaluation (NDVE) model – to evaluate the impact of natural hazards on GNP growth. The model is based on five basic indicators – (i) the total natural hazards frequency rate (α); (ii) the national natural hazards vulnerability rate (ΩT); (iii) the natural disaster devastation magnitude rate (Π); (iv) the economic desgrowth rate (δ); (v) and the natural hazards vulnerability surface (NHV Surface). In addition, we apply the NDVE Model to the Northeast Japan earthquake and tsunami of March 2011 to evaluate its impact on the Japanese economy