Shining a Light on Resilience: Overcoming Hurricane Odile’s Impact on Electricity and the Economy

Lisa Bagnoli, Lucía Delgado (), Jerónimo Luza (), Oscar A. Mitnik (), Clara Pasman () and Tomás Serebrisky ()
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Lucía Delgado: Inter-American Development Bank
Jerónimo Luza: Inter-American Development Bank
Oscar A. Mitnik: Inter-American Development Bank
Clara Pasman: Bocconi University
Tomás Serebrisky: Inter-American Development Bank

No 17909, IZA Discussion Papers from Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)

Abstract: Over the past decades, Latin America and the Caribbean have experienced a significant increase in natural disasters, posing significant threats to infrastructure and economic activity, particularly in regions with poor infrastructure. Understanding the patterns in recovery time after disasters is key to designing accurate responses to natural hazards. In this paper, we develop a methodological approach and use Hurricane Odile, which struck Baja California Sur, Mexico, in September 2014, as a case study to understand the recovery paths following such disasters. We rely on nighttime lights data to capture the initial impact and eventual recovery of electricity service and economic activity in the area of impact of the hurricane. We find that the average luminosity dropped to 78% of pre-hurricane levels immediately after the event and did not fully recover within a year. Impacts are heterogeneous, with localities such as Cabo San Lucas and San José del Cabo experiencing more severe impacts and slower recovery compared to La Paz, which recovered faster. These results suggest that disaster evaluation, mitigation policies, and preventive measures against disaster impacts should be tailored to local realities.

Keywords: nighttime light; economic activity recovery; electricity service; natural disasters; resilience; hurricane; Mexico (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q54 R11 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025-05
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-dev and nep-ene
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