Following discussion regarding the post-Nepal earthquake Everest rescues, another earthquake has trapped mountain climbing tourists, this time in Malaysia's Borneo http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-33017758 The article notes "There were no reports of major damage or injuries from the earthquake in other parts of Sabah".

Tourists caught in disasters have long been researched, with the 18 May 1980 Mt. St. Helens eruption and the 26 December 2004 tsunami particularly highlighting the topic e.g. (for the latter) http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs11852-008-0029-4 The recent Yangtze ship sinking is another example. A parallel subject is 'disaster tourism' http://www.ijmed.org/articles/499/download

As more and more remote places become increasingly accessible, both physically and financially, this topic is likely to garner more interest in the future--with high altitudes (mountains) and high latitudes (polar regions) potentially being the most prominent. The dilemma is balancing needs of locals with needs of non-locals in disasters, and aiming to avoid contrasting or trading off such needs, especially when pre-disaster affluence is a major determinant of receiving more post-disaster resources such as through insurance policies.

The debate is intertwined with tourism providing livelihoods, but not necessarily livelihoods which reduce vulnerability, support resilience, or promote sustainability. We discuss some aspects for volcanoes at http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0377027307004131 Any other thoughts on the tourism-vulnerability-livelihoods nexus?

Ilan

http://www.ilankelman.org
Twitter @IlanKelman