Role of microfinance in disaster mitigation

Abstract

Purpose -In the context of the Indian subcontinent, aims to examine the suitability of using microfinance for natural disaster risk reduction at the household and community level, and also of delivering it in the wake of a natural disaster. Design/methodology/approach -Explains microfinance strategies comprising: diversifying income source; designing new loan products; risk management; sustainability of microfinance institutions post-disaster; liquidity management post-disaster, etc. Findings -States that microfinance should be recognized as one of a series of measures within a disaster risk management strategy. Along with eco-friendly farming it can help overcome poverty in developing countries. Originality/value -Probably the first real attempt to explore the importance of microfinance interventions in natural disasters both at the personal level and generally.

Auditory sensory memory and working memory skills: Association between frontal MMN and performance scores

“…Memory is the faculty responsible for encoding, storing and retrieving information (Förstl et al, 2006) and represents one of the most crucial abilities for surviving and acting within the environment (Kumar et al, 2015). It comprises several sub-systems, such as sensory memory (SM) and working memory (WM), that together concur in processing the information.…”

Natural Disasters and Economic Growth: The Mitigating Role of Microfinance Institutions

“…Likewise, Kumar and Newport [40] argued that microfinance should be recognized as one of the key disaster risk management strategies designed to help disaster victims, especially poor households. According to Kumar and Newport [40], MFIs provide a range of financial services (informal and flexible financial instruments) to the poor for disaster mitigation not only at the community level but also within the informal economy. This is supported by Pantoja [41], who maintained that poor households mainly rely on informal though market-based social and financial services.…”

“…Many institutions that offer development programs in developing countries are typically informal, including many MFIs. Such MFIs provide informal and flexible financial instruments for disaster mitigation at the community level and within the informal economy [40]. This is supported by Shoji [61], who maintained that during the 1998 flood in Bangladesh, people accessed loans for rehabilitation from informal money lenders.…”

“…Upon this background, it became necessary to examine the behaviors of formal and informal MFIs in addressing disaster effects. It is documented [40,61] that informal financial institutions play a fundamental role in dealing with disaster effects. These informal financial institutions provide not only informal credit, especially to the poor, but also provide informal insurance strategies that help the masses deal with various disaster effects.…”

Memory studies and the eighteenth century

“…Handbook of Memory Studies(Tota & Hagan, 2016) have been complemented by monographs which also focus on memory as a methodology such as Astrid Erll's Memory in Culture (2011), Patrick Hutton's The Memory Phenomenon in Contemporary Historical Writing: How the Interest in Memory Has Influenced Our Understanding of History (2016), Marek Tamm's Afterlife of Events: Perspectives on Mnemohistory (2016), and Martin Pogačar's Media Archaeologies, Micro-Archives and Storytelling: Re-presencing the Past (2016), just to name a few examples. The fact that academic presses such as Palgrave Macmillan and Routledge have series devoted to varieties of memory studies has served to further legitimize and promote the field, as has the appearance of journals such as History & Memory and Memory Studies and the formation of an international Memory Studies Association.…”