Corruption and disasters in the built environment: a literature review

This paper presents the findings of a review of academic literature concerning the degree to which corruption worsens disasters triggered by natural hazards in the built environment. The research employed a 'systematic literature review' methodology to analyse leading academic databases, resulting in a detailed analysis of 59 peer-reviewed, published papers. It found that while much of the literature focuses on earthquakes (relating to building and infrastructure collapse), the quality of governance, and the drivers of corruption, there is presently very limited scholarship on the general scope, reach, and scale with respect to how disasters are worsened by corruption. It is notable that the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015-2030 and a number of other high-level reports fail to mention corruption. The paper argues that this serious gap in understanding and expressing how corruption increases vulnerability in the built environment within disaster studies perversely supports the furtherance of corruption in worsening disasters.